Businessman seeks suspension of 3 NLRC execs

A BUSINESSMAN on Wednesday asked the Ombudsman to immediately suspend three officials of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for alleged partiality and conflict of interest in violation of Section 13 of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act.

In a 10-page complaint filed by Felix Chingkoe, he accused Commissioner Romeo Go, Labor Arbiter Ariel Santos and Sheriff Antonio Datu III of allegedly using their offices to either derail or bungle his pending cases before the commission.

Also included in the complaint is his own brother, Faustino Chingkoe, and Tomasito Lim as private respondents.

“I am praying that respondents …be preventively suspended by the Honorable Ombudsman from holding office pursuant to the applicable provisions of law…in order to prevent the respondents from using their office to exert undue influence on others by reason of this case,” Chingkoe stated in his complaint.

He said since he has still pending cases before the commission, their continued stay in their positions “have already caused serious injury to me even prior to this complaint.”

Chingkoe’s complaint stemmed from a conflict between him and his brother Faustino and Lim over the shares of stocks of Grand Asia Spinning Inc. (formerly Allstar Spinning  Inc.), a subsidiary company of the Diamond Knitting Corp.  (DKC) Holdings.

In 1994, Chingkoe said he filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after he discovered allegedly anomalous transactions made by his brother and his cohorts involving corporate funds and properties of DKC. A compromise agreement was reached in 1996 and SEC constituted a management committee that took over the operations of the companies under the DKC, one of which is Gasi.

Lim was a nominee of Faustino to the Mancom.

Later on, Lim filed a complaint before the NLRC for illegal dismissal against the Chingkoe brothers.

“Faustino and his cohort Tomasito Lim made it appear that Lim and the other employees of Grand Asia were complaining against Mancom and me. To hide their contemptible design, they also included Faustino as one of the respondents but, in truth, Tomasito Lim was all the time working for Faustino,” Felix said.

Labor Arbiter Pablo Espiritu Jr. declared Lim’s complaint valid on November 29, 2001, against the Chingkoe brothers. Felix appealed the case before the NLRC’s First Division with Romeo Go as one of the members. Felix’s appeal was denied. Thus, Felix brought the case to the Supreme Court.

While the appeal was pending before the Supreme Court, Felix said Lim filed a motion for Issuance of Writ of Execution in July 2009 and the motion landed on the desk of Santos.

“On November 22, 2009, I received a mail that was delivered to my house via LBC. After opening the said mail, I saw a Notice of Levy of my shares of stocks in the various corporations. It appears that the levy was already served upon the various corporations where I hold shares on November 19, 2009,” Felix said, adding he found out later that Faustino, Lim, Santos, Go and Datu III “had connived and conspired to cause me great damage.”

He said Santos, despite the absence of preexecution conference which is mandated by law, issued a Writ of Execution, “in evident bad faith and manifest partiality in favor of Lim, et. al.”

Datu, Felix claimed, served the Notice of Levy even without making service of the Writ of Execution in violation of the NLRC Manual of Execution of Judgment, Section 2 (a) of Rule III.

Felix said Datu sent it to him by mail and on a Saturday, contrary to the requirements of law.

“Sending a mail by private courier would entail additional expense for the government. Assuming the complainants gave him money to send it by private courier, the same would be tantamount to bribery. Either way, Sheriff Datu committed gross violation of his duties,” he said.

Felix also stressed that Lim, Santos and Go are “business partners” based on a document from the SEC’s General Information Sheet

He said the three were stockholders of the Marikina Textile Mills Inc., registered with SEC on November 13, 2009, and each of them had invested 1,250 shares (P2.5 million). Lim is the president of the company.

Felix said Santos’s shares “manifestly out of proportion to his income” and should be investigated for possible unexplained wealth.

“Go is, likewise, guilty of violating his office when he became a business associate of Lim…and just the same as Santos,” he said. –Zaff Solmerin / Correspondent, Businessmirror