CEBU, Philippines — Pinoycare Visa Center, Incorporation, a visa processing service provider, has been ordered to pay former employees, Cebuana singer Eva de los Santos and husband Ruben David, P2.4 million in damages for their unlawful dismissal from the company.
Labor Arbiter Bertino Ruaya, Jr., of Regional Arbitration Branch-7 of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), found sufficient evidence that the couple was constructively dismissed by the company and its president Prisca Niña Mabatid.
“This Labor Tribunal has carefully considered the arguments of both parties and their respective evidence and it has not escaped from our attention that the respondents have developed an antagonistic stance towards the complainants even prior to their termination and the totality of the facts amount to constructive dismissal,” read the decision.
In a press conference yesterday, the couple said they were happy with NLRC's decision, adding that that all the humiliations they had been subjected to were paid off.
“2017 is not a good year for us - public humiliation to the maximum degree. However, after months of anxiety, sleepless nights, and sadness, not just to me and my husband, but also to our family, we received the decision from the Labor Tribunal,” Eva said.
Ruben David said they were more after justice and not after the monetary award amounting to P2,431,634.55, which represents backwages, separation pay, unpaid salary, unpaid commissions, and damages, among others.
In their complaint, Ruben David said he was employed by the company in November 2015 as country manager for the Middle East and as speaker while his wife, who was employed in July 2016, was hired as the secondary speaker.
Their jobs entailed holding international and domestic events, with the goal of enlisting applicants to their visa and placement services.
At first, the couple said, they had no problems with the management and they were able to produce “exceptional results which saw a significant increase in sign-ups.”
However, in January and February 2017, the couple claimed that “work tension” began when budget for events started coming late and there were times that Mabatid allegedly asked Ruben David to use his credit card to pay for the costs, to which he refused.
Ruben David said that in February 2017 he learned that the marketing officers in the Middle East were promoted to country managers, replacing him without his knowledge.
He was offered to the position of speaker, which means lower pay and lesser benefits
While she was in the United Arab Emirates, Eva said she received a communication from the company that she was no longer entitled to pier diem unless there was an event. This, she said, was contrary to the contract she signed.
The couple said that on July 4, 2017, a meeting was held in which Mabatid allegedly humiliated them publicly, calling them ungrateful and even accusing Ruben David as a carnapper.
A notice to the public showing their faces was published in a newspaper stating that any transaction made by them for Pinoycare was considered null and void.
With the foregoing facts, Ruaya found the couple to have been constructively dismissed by their employer, despite the latter invoking their management prerogative in disciplining and dismissing its employees for seen misconduct.
“Constructive dismissal is also called dismissal in disguise or an employer’s act amounting to dismissal but made to appear as if it were not. In most cases of constructive dismissal, the employee is allowed to continue to work, but is simply reassigned, or demoted, or his pay diminished without a valid reason to do so,” read the decision, adding subjecting the couple to indignities and humiliation by the respondents is considered a form of constructive dismissal.
Earlier, the couple filed a libel case against Mabatid, after the latter accused them of selling her a townhouse worth P2.5 million allegedly owned by someone else. (FREEMAN)