STILL reeling in the heat of the sin tax imbroglio, the country’s tobacco giant will also have to put up against three more cases of alleged illegal termination of its employees.

The three labor cases were filed by Cesar Victorino et al, all former employees of Philip Morris or PMFTC Inc., bringing the total number of labor cases filed against the giant tobacco company to four cases of alleged illegal termination, including the earlier case filed by Rhegil Almarines (NLRC NCR Case No. 08-12842-12 “Almarines vs. PMFTC Inc.”).

Among those charged for alleged violation of the Labor Code are Mitchell Gault (Finance/IT/Admin director), Anthonie Jansen (HR director), Michael Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (IT director), Lourdes Velecina (HR manager), Nikolas “Chino” Modesto (IT manager), Larry Tan (HR-Sales director), Pi Singson (Field Sales director), and Harry Tan Jr. (Sales and Marketing director).

The four labor cases were raffled to the Office of Hon. Eduardo Carpio re-NLRC NCR Case No. 08-12842-12 “Almarines vs. PMFTC Inc.,” while the three newly filed cases were consolidated to the Office of Hon. Madjayran Ajan (NLRC NCR Case No. 10-15216-12 “Cesar Victorino et al, vs. PMFTC Inc.”), respectively.

All the complainants are represented by lawyer Rey Bulay who accused his colleague of bullying his client during the compromise hearing at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

Bulay, representing Almarines, a terminated employee of the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. (PMFTC) is now contemplating to file contempt charges against lawyer Emiteryo Manibog Jr.

Bulay claimed that during their compromise hearing at the sala of Beatriz de Guzman over NLRC Case No. 08-12842-12 (Almarines vs. PMFTC), Manibog bullied Almarines.

“Attorney Manibog in front of the arbiter started chastising Almarines in a loud voice while pointing his finger at my client, prompting me to tell him to stop scolding my client and talk to me instead,” Bulay said.

He added that Manibog, a member of the prestigious Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz [Accra] law offices instead berated him saying, “para kang ‘di abogado [as if you’re not a lawyer].”

He said that Manibog accused him of allowing Almarines, a supervisor for five years of PMFTC, to solicit sympathy through media and the Internet in the case against the tobacco giant.

“I cannot let his harsh words pass just like that, so I said that, ‘Clearly you have no respect for our proceedings today. This time I will be the one to put your conduct unbecoming of a brother in the profession in the news. Are you above the law because you are representing PMFTC and you’re from Accra?’” Bulay said.

Bulay said that he believed that they would not be covered by subjudicial rule because the issue has nothing to do with the case but solely on Manibog’s demeanor as an officer of the court.

“Our professional canons of professional ethics command respect for the courts, quasi-judicial agencies and colleagues in the profession. And Manibog’s lack of professionalism clearly shows,” Bulay said.