BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – The Fantastic Four faction of the feuding Yanson clan lost another case, this time in the labor front, after an arbitration branch of the National Labor Relations Commission dismissed the July 17 complaint for unfair labor practice filed by eldest son Roy V. Yanson and the Vallacar Transit, Inc. against the workers union.
Labor Arbiter Ivanhoe S. Rojo, in dismissing the complaint September 10, recognized the grounds cited in the urgent motion to dismiss filed by union officers Juvy Diama, Rey Dela Torre, Raymondo Roldan, and Franny E. Santarin, all officials of the local chapter of the Philippine Commercial and Industrial Workers Union-Trade Union representing workers in Negros and Panay islands.
A copy of the order was furnished DNX by the VTI office of media and legal affairs.
The four grounds the union cited were: 1) the lack of jurisdiction of an arbiter to issue a temporary restraining order, 2) the complainant is a corporation and Roy V. Yanson has no authority to file the complaint,
3) the complaint is procedurally defective as there is no certification for non forum shopping, and 4) the complaint has not undergone the mandatory Single Entry Approach and thus, premature.
Rojo, in discussing his bases for his order, cited Section 5 (a), Rule V of the 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure that provides that a motion to dismiss is one of the prohibited pleadings.
He added, however, that his “judicious evaluation” of the complaint shows that it “suffers from substantial procedural infirmities.”
First, Rojo said, the certification for non-forum shopping was not attached to the complaint. He added that even if it was indeed submitted by the complainant on July 22, six days after the complaint was filed on July 17, it was still a violation of the procedure that could lead to a dismissal.
Rojo also noted that there was no verified certification proving that Roy V. Yanson is authorized to represent the board in filing the complaint.
Roy V. Yanson also failed to comply with the Single Entry Approach or SEnA that provides for the holding of a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation services before the filing of a complaint.
Lawyer Raul Bitoon, one of the counsel of the so-called Fantastic Four (Roy, Emily, Celina, Ricardo Jr.), declined to comment.
He told DNX he has not yet read the order.
