SC upholds Herrera as TUCP head

The Supreme Court has affirmed with finality the leadership of former Senator Ernesto Herrera as the legitimate and constitutional president of the labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.

In a resolution, The SC’s First Division denied Democrito Mendoza’s petition to refer the case to the Court en banc for decision, ending the four-year impasse in the TUCP leadership.

“The Court further resolves to deny the petitioner’s prayer to refer the case to the Court en banc en consulta, the latter not being an appellate court to which decisions or resolutions of the Divisions may be appealed, pursuant to SC Circular 2-89 dated February 7, 1989, as amended by the resolution dated November 18, 1993,” the high court ruled.

Herrera, the former TUCP General Secretary who assumed the presidency of the country’s largest and most representative national labor center in November 2011, had been engaged in a legal struggle with Mendoza, the former TUCP president who resigned then tried to take back his resignation, thus triggering a bitter intra-union dispute.

“With the Supreme Courts’ decision, the TUCP will resume full operation and engagement with tripartite partners, without encumbrance,” Herrera said.

]“As the biggest trade union confederation in the Philippines, we reiterate our commitment towards equity, inclusive growth, workers’ protection, and decent work for all,” he added.

The SC decision upheld the 2013 Court of Appeals (CA) Seventh Division decision declaring “Herrera, along with other elective members of the Executive Board as the lawful officers of the TUCP.”

]The appellate court decision “annulled and set aside” the status quo ante decision of the Department of Labor and Employment.

]The CA also declared “any act performed by Mendoza after his resignation has no legal effect and is not binding, for lack of authority.”

The appellate court also ruled that Herrera is TUCP’s president in a holdover capacity until the labor union elects its new set of leaders.

The CA said Herrera “validly assumed office upon Mendoza’s resignation” and the same principle applies to the rest of the elective members of the TUCP’s Executive Board.

The TUCP has over a million members. It represents workers in 17 regional wage boards, except in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Twelve of the 20 labor representatives in the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council are leaders of TUCP affiliate federations.

It is a partner organization of the International Labor Organization and the Solidarity Center of the mammoth and very influential American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). –Rey E. Requejo, Manila Standard Today