A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has asked the Supreme Court to issue a final ruling on a multi-billion suit they filed against US firms Brown and Root. Inc. and the Halliburton Group of Companies.
In a letter to Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the OFWs expressed fear that further delays may lead to a “manipulation” of the ruling on the case.
Manuel Olidan, one of the claimants, said their case was filed 26 years ago and has been pending with the Supreme Court for over three years.
“About 300 of the 2,000 complainants in this case have already died and most of us are now old and sickly,” the 63-year-old Olidan told The STAR.
He said the lawyers of Brown and Root already expressed their willingness to pay the more than $609 million in damages to the OFWs if the SC would render a “final and executory” decision.
In December 2002, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) directed the American firms to pay each of their former Filipino employees $30,000 in back wages and other financial benefits.
The claimants, who worked as construction workers in various countries in the Middle East, complained that they were not paid appropriate wages by the US firms. “While a Filipino worker welder receives a hourly rate of $2.50, other nationalities (who have) the same job get $22 a hour. The OFWs then were not being treated fairly,” Olidan said. The American firms, however, appealed the NLRC ruling before the Court of Appeals, which eventually reversed the decision prompting the Filipino workers to elevate the case to the SC in 2005.
Olidan said the SC told them the case has already been submitted for resolution but the decision has yet to come out. “To protect their image from accusations of irregularities, the Supreme Court should immediately render the decision of our case,” he said.
“We are not just fighting for compensation here, we are fighting for the rights and fair treatment for the millions of Filipinos working abroad,” Olidan added.–Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star
March –
IT’S WOMEN’S MONTH!
“Respect and support women
every day of the year/s!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week;
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and “
Made-in-the-Philippines Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
March 4: Employee Appreciation Day
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day
March 18: Global Recycling Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
March 23: International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims
March 25: International Day of Remembrance of the
Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: Earth Hour
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