PSALM sets P8.4-B settlement on claims of NPC employees

By Myrna M. Velasco – August 28, 2018, 10:00 PM
from Business Mirror

State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) has booked P8.404 billion worth of claims by the previously dismissed National Power Corporation (NPC) employees – as linked to the NPC Drivers and Mechanics Association (DAMA) case that was recently decided by the Supreme Court.

Such was specifically provided for in the latest financial statement of PSALM – the final review of which was completed around June this year by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The aggregate amount recognized in PSALM’s financial books had been for P8.40 billion – consisting of P4.70 billion principal and P3.70 billion in interest charges as of December 31, 2017.

The DAMA case covered the former NPC employees who were neither rehired by the NPC or absorbed by PSALM or the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) following the reorganization of the state-run power firm in 2003, as part of its privatization process and the restructuring of the entire electricity sector. These affected employees were also the petitioners in the DAMA case at the high court.

PSALM stated in the report that the settlement provision covers the NPC employees “subsequently employed in the private sector,” being the ones entitled to “full back wages.”

The company said the booked compensation package to the dismissed NPC employees reflected the resolution of the Supreme Court on the case dated November 21 last year.

A regional trial court ruling four years ago placed the total demand of the NPC employees at P62.051 billion, inclusive of 10-percent charging lien, lawful fees and costs of execution, but the high court verdict had done recalculation, taking into consideration PSALM’s argument that such settlement will impact heavily on its financial state.

At the latter part of 2014, the affected NPC employees even lodged a heftier claim of P82 billion against PSALM and NPC, after factoring interest charges over the years. PSALM is NPC’s successor-company, hence, it is the entity being nudged on the claims of the dismissed NPC employees.

In the decision penned by now SC Chief Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, it was specified that “interest on the judgment award shall be computed as: 12-percent per annum from October 8, 2008 until June 30, 2013; and 6.0-percent per annum from July 1, 2013 onwards.

It was further stipulated that the judgment award in this case, shall accrue “after deducting the separation pay already received by the petitioners under the restructuring plan and the 10-percent charging lien.”

The high tribunal similarly ruled that “legal interest must not be imposed on attorney’s fees.”