PAL readies string of raps vs protesters

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said yesterday it is readying charges against its former employees who blocked one of its catering trucks from exiting the airline’s inflight center Saturday.

PAL counsel Clara de Castro said airline security have identified truncheon-wielding protesters who blocked Gate 1 of PAL’s Inflight Center (IFC) along MIA Road, Pasay City. These rallyists placed wooden planks with nails and set fire to a carton box to prevent PAL’s truck from leaving the facility.

“This is not the first time that former PAL workers prevented PAL employees and vehicles from entering and leaving its facility. But Saturday’s well-documented blocking of a PAL catering van shows how brazen they have become,” De Castro stressed.

She said PAL lawyers are preparing charges for violation of its property rights, particularly the right to free and unhampered access to its own property; the right to use its vehicles and buildings; and the right to allow its workers or service providers to enter and leave the facility without being harassed by protesters.

While protesters’ claim that they have a right to encamp at the PAL’s Inflight Center is “highly questionable,” De Castro stressed PAL’s right to free access to and from its own facility is “absolute” and guaranteed by the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the PAL counsel stressed that libel charges are also being prepared against protesters claiming that the airline hired so-called “goons” to disperse their camp.

“Baseless allegations of dispersal is a poor attempt by protesting workers to cover up their own blatant violations by threatening harm against PAL personnel who want to bring out PAL property from its inflight center,” she said.

She stressed that PAL security merely took a defensive stance. “Not one of them ever touched a protester, a streamer or any part of the protesters’ camp. They were there to ensure order in case things get out of hand as PAL tries to bring its truck out,” she added.

PAL said the other day one of its catering trucks which was about to exit PAL’s IFC along MIAA Road was blocked by protesting former PAL employees at close to 6 a.m. in the morning of Oct. 29. Wielding night sticks, planks with spikes and barbed wire, the protesters harrassed the driver and set aflame a carton box in front of the truck to prevent thevehicle from exiting the compound, according to PAL.

A standoff ensued between protesters and PAL guards stationed at IFC’s Gate 1. Eventually, the catering truck and PAL’s shield-wielding guards retreated. One guard, Russel Tiongson, was rushed to San Juan de Dios Hospital after suffocating from the toxic fumes emitted by the burning box with kerosene.

“We decry this continuing harassment of our drivers and employees. PAL has every reason to protect airline equipment, its workers and those of its service providers from threats or actual physical harm. The Constitution guarantees PAL’s right to free and unhampered access to and from its own facility,” the airline said in a statement. –Daily Tribune