‘SC flip-flopped on P62-B Napocor case ruling’

MANILA, Philippines - The 2006 Supreme Court (SC) ruling to garnish some P62 billion in assets of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to pay the separation benefits of 5,000 illegally terminated employees of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) was already final and executory and had an entry of judgment before the Third Division decided to reverse it.

This was learned by The STAR yesterday from a source who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak for the SC.

The source said the Third Division issued a resolution last June rejecting Napocor’s urgent plea to defer execution of the garnishment order through a temporary restraining order (TRO).

“Yes, you can say that it’s a flip-flop,” the insider said.

Last July, the Third Division cited Napocor for indirect contempt for defying its orders.

In the latest resolution, the SC granted Napocor’s request and stopped the execution of the writs of garnishment after receiving letters from the executive branch about “possible injurious effects on the economy as well as the energy sector.”

The Quezon City regional trial court issued the writs pursuant to the SC’s Sept. 26, 2006 decision voiding National Power Board (NPB) Resolution Nos. 2002-1242 and 2002-125 terminating from the service 5,000 Napocor employees on Jan. 31, 2003 in line with its restructuring under Republic Act 9311, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

The SC subsequently held that the illegally dismissed employees were entitled to reinstatement or payment of separation benefits.

The order was issued to “allow the Court to determine who are entitled to be paid under the terms of its previous resolutions and how much each is entitled to be paid.”

The SC also deferred action on the plea to elevate the case for resolution of the full court.

Associate Justice Arturo Brion wrote the two rulings.

Another insider, who also commented on condition of anonymity, said the SC’s action was “healthy for the judiciary” as it demonstrated an admission of mistake in judgment.

“Flip-flopping isn’t necessarily bad per se; it is sometimes beneficial to correct bad rulings,” the insider said. “It only had a bad public perception because of the cityhood cases.”

In 2011, the SC was criticized for changing its ruling on the constitutionality of laws passed by the 11th Congress for the conversion into cities of 16 municipalities.

Ruling on that case several times, the SC first decided in November 2008 that the cityhood laws were unconstitutional.

It became final and executory on May 21, 2009.

However, in December 2009, the SC reversed its decision and issued another ruling declaring the laws constitutional.

In February and April 2011, the SC stood by its second ruling.