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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk
Editor
THE Sentosa 27++ have lost the 28 discrimination cases they filed
before the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair
Employment Practices “because there was insufficient evidence of
reasonable cause to believe the injured parties (the Sentosa nurses)
were discriminated against.”
The Sentosa 27 nurses plus one
more nurse also brought four civil cases for breach of contract and
tortuous interference against Sentosa Care, LLC, the Sentosa
facilities and the Prompt Nursing Employment Agency. Their motion
for preliminary injunction was denied on June 15, 2006, as, the
court said, “plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate either a
likelihood or success on the merits or a balancing of equities in
their favor on either their breach of contract of tortuous
interference claim against the defendants.”
Half a year later, on January 5,
2007, the same judge denied the Sentosa plaintiffs’ application
for preliminary injunction on reargue, saying, “The record is
replete with disputed issues, and no showing by plaintiffs of a
clear likelihood of success on the merits vis-à-vis their claim
against the defendants.”
On March 22, 2007, 11 defendants,
inclusive of 10 nurses at the Avalon Gardens and the Sentosa
27++’s lawyer Felix Vinluan were indicted for endangerment
(endangering the safety of their patients by walking out) and
conspiracy (to paralyze the facilities) by the Suffolk County
District Attorney Thomas Spota.
His decision to indict the 10
Sentosa nurses at Avalon Gardens and their lawyer made Spota a more
notorious figure among Filipinos than he already was. For,
earlier, he had been reported in the New York press and in blog
sites as having been the recipient of campaign-fund donations from
Sentosa Care owners when he ran for county district attorney, an
elective position in the United States.
The Sentosa nurses have also
requested New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer to take out Spota from the
cases filed against them, and instead appoint a special prosecutor.
Spota of course opposes his removal.
Spota became quite controversial
for allegedly mishandling the case of immigrant Marty Tankleff who
was found guilty, in 1990, of killing his parents and sentenced to
imprisonment of 50 years to life. In 2000, Tankleff’s lawyer tried
to present new evidence in court but Spota fought it and won.
Tankleff filed an appeal and the appellate court ordered a re-trial
based on the new evidence, with Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointing State
Attorney-General Andrew M. Cuomo as Special Prosecutor to the case
replacing Spota.
Tankleff was subsequently found
not guilty and released in December 2007, after spending 17 years in
jail.
Spota is currently under
investigation by the New York State Commission of Investigation for
his mishandling of the Tankleff case. Critics have also accused him
of improper practices and “a pervasive lack of documentation, and
improper documentation in Suffolk Police and District Attorney
investigations.”
A grand jury charged the Sentosa
27’s Avalon 10 with endangering the welfare of children, saying
that their mass resignation caused a staffing crisis at Avalon
Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Smithtown and put
at risk the lives of chronically ill children.
The ten nurses of the so-called
Avalon 11 are Juliet A. Anilao, Rainer C. Sichon, Marriet S. Avila,
Claudine B. Gamiao, Ondon Parungao, Elmer Jacinto, Jennifer Lampa,
Rizza P. Maulion, Marie de la Cruz, and James B. Millena. The
11th person charged is, as mentioned, lawyer Vinluan.
The nurses have written
documentation proving they did not walk out on their patients at
mid-shift, but completed their shifts before submitting their
resignation letters to the Sentosa-owned Avalon Gardens in Long
Island.
The Avalon nurses’ indictment
is the first such in New York. It has upset the multiracial
community of nurses and medical personnel in the state who, as
professionals with valid complaints against employers, have even
gone on strike in the past without being harassed and accused of
being criminals.
The New York State Nurses
Association voted to support the struggle not just of the Avalon 11
but the entire Sentosa 27++.
The defendants filed their
omnibus motions, including their motions to dismiss, but on
September 28, 2007, Judge Robert W. Doyle denied the motions to
dismiss, and now the nurses have to defend themselves in criminal
litigation proceedings.
For these highly trained
professionals, their criminal case is a nightmare. If
convicted, they stand to do time for at least a year and deportation
back to their scandal-wracked mother country, devastating all their
dreams of a new life in the US.
They have lost the cases they
filed against the Sentosa Recruitment Agency. They filed the
cases in staggered batches at the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration.
The first case, filed on May 4,
2006 by medical doctor and board exam topnotcher who turned nurse
Elmer Jacinto, was dismissed on September 27 last year for “lack
of merit.” He is appealing the dismissal.
The second case involving five
other nurses and filed on November 26, 2006, is still not
adjudicated. A third case involving three nurses was filed
November 15, 2007. The last two cases also included a motion for the
court to order the preventive suspension of Sentosa Recruitment
Agency.
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