Story In A Nutshell
- OIC director Rene Sabordo of the Regional Conciliation and Mediation Board informed Felix Gepilga Jr the NCMB cannot ‘take cognizance’ of the notice of strike Gepilga filed last 15 November 2023 for unfair labor practice
- Sabordo said Geoilga has no legal personality as acting CURE president Marbie Cabardo had been earlier reinstated as vice president
- DOLE had earlier ruled in the intra union dispute involving Cabaldo and the union’s Executive Board
BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – A regional labor department official has ruled that there is no notice of strike from workers of the power coop to decide on because it was not recognized in the first place for being filed by a workers union “president” without a legal personality.
As this developed, acting president Marbie Cabardo of the Union of Rational Employees of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative told DNX they might consider filing a charge for usurpation of authority against Gepilga.
She said she has yet to discuss this with other union officers, however.
Sabordo, in a three-page letter addressed to Gepilga, clearly pointed out in the dispositive part that the notice of strike docketed as RCMB-VI-NEOC-11-00011-2023 “is deemed not filed” due to Gepilga’s “lack of personality” stated in a previous paragraph.
The regional official said the Revised Manual of Procedures for Conciliation and Preventive Mediation Cases provide that only the president or the duly authorized representative can represent a bargaining representative in case of a deadlock or unfair labor practices.
Gepilga’s filing of a notice of strike came amid the results of a plebiscite on the joint venture agreement between CENECO and Negros Electric Power Corporation that will pave the way for the first private distribution utility in the island.
