DOJ to refer to Ombudsman case filed by 2,000 OFWs vs. Arroyo, Corona over $609-M back wages
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to refer to the Office of the Ombudsman a case filed by a group of former 2,000 overseas Filipino workers against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona for their alleged involvement in the withholding the complainants back wages.
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the back wages involved in the case amounted to $609 million obtained from the OFWs former employer, US-based Brown and Halliburton Group of Companies.
Arellano said the group of former OFWs, which collectively called themselves "Modern Day Heroes," accused Arroyo and the other individuals of graft and corruption, and large-scale estafa
Apart from Arroyo and Corona, also named respondents in the complaint originally filed with the DOJ were retired Justices Antonio Nachura, Consuelo Santiago, Ma. Alicia Martinez, Minita Nazario, and Ruben Reyes; as well as then National Labor Relations Commission commissioners Vicente Veloso and Tito Genilo.
"The case will be forwarded to the Ombudsman, the latter having jurisdiction pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DOJ and the OMB," Arellano, who is head of the National Prosecution Service which is under the DOJ, told GMA News Online.
The MOA was signed last year during the Prosecutors' Convention, which provided that cases involving public officials with a salary grade of 27 and above should be exclusively handled by the anti-graft office.
Initially, the OFWs complained that the US group of firms paid other nationalities $22 per hour, while OFWs with the same job received only $2.50 per hour.
The NLRC eventually ruled in favor of the OFWs, who worked as construction workers, in December 2002 and ordered the OFWs employer to pay them $609 million in back wages.
The US companies appealed the case before the CA, which reversed the NLRC decision.
This prompted the former OFWs in 2011 to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court, which at the time was headed by Corona, but the high court upheld the CA ruling, modifying some of its parts to include only 149 out of the 2,300 OFWs as claimants.
The complainants accused Arroyo of also having a hand in their back wages being withheld from them.
Arroyo, incumbent Pampanga congresswoman, is currently under hospital arrest at the Veterans' Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City due to a pending plunder case stemming from charges that she permitted, when she was president, the diversion of over P300-M belonging to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, a government corporation.
In 2012, the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 112 allowed Arroyo to post bail for separate electoral sabotage charges filed against her by the Commission on Elections.
Meanwhile, Corona was ousted as top judge after being convicted by an impeachment court of failing to disclose around P200 million kept in several peso and dollar deposits. - VVP, GMA News
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the back wages involved in the case amounted to $609 million obtained from the OFWs former employer, US-based Brown and Halliburton Group of Companies.
Arellano said the group of former OFWs, which collectively called themselves "Modern Day Heroes," accused Arroyo and the other individuals of graft and corruption, and large-scale estafa
Apart from Arroyo and Corona, also named respondents in the complaint originally filed with the DOJ were retired Justices Antonio Nachura, Consuelo Santiago, Ma. Alicia Martinez, Minita Nazario, and Ruben Reyes; as well as then National Labor Relations Commission commissioners Vicente Veloso and Tito Genilo.
"The case will be forwarded to the Ombudsman, the latter having jurisdiction pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DOJ and the OMB," Arellano, who is head of the National Prosecution Service which is under the DOJ, told GMA News Online.
The MOA was signed last year during the Prosecutors' Convention, which provided that cases involving public officials with a salary grade of 27 and above should be exclusively handled by the anti-graft office.
Initially, the OFWs complained that the US group of firms paid other nationalities $22 per hour, while OFWs with the same job received only $2.50 per hour.
The NLRC eventually ruled in favor of the OFWs, who worked as construction workers, in December 2002 and ordered the OFWs employer to pay them $609 million in back wages.
The US companies appealed the case before the CA, which reversed the NLRC decision.
This prompted the former OFWs in 2011 to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court, which at the time was headed by Corona, but the high court upheld the CA ruling, modifying some of its parts to include only 149 out of the 2,300 OFWs as claimants.
The complainants accused Arroyo of also having a hand in their back wages being withheld from them.
Arroyo, incumbent Pampanga congresswoman, is currently under hospital arrest at the Veterans' Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City due to a pending plunder case stemming from charges that she permitted, when she was president, the diversion of over P300-M belonging to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, a government corporation.
In 2012, the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 112 allowed Arroyo to post bail for separate electoral sabotage charges filed against her by the Commission on Elections.
Meanwhile, Corona was ousted as top judge after being convicted by an impeachment court of failing to disclose around P200 million kept in several peso and dollar deposits. - VVP, GMA News
Comments