Aristotle once said: ”Those that know do. Those that understand, teach”. Our law firm Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan ( SVBB) believes that the best way to afford legal protection to seafarers is for them to be properly educated of their legal rights. As part of our law firm’s advocacy for seafarers’ right, we conduct weekly…
Tinig ng Marino – September – October 2014 ATTY. AUGUSTO R. BUNDANG Head, Litigation and Seafarers Department Sapalo Velez Bundang and Bulilan Law Offices Who has jurisdiction over a case involving the interpretation or implementation of the collective bargaining agreement: the labor arbiter or the voluntary arbitrator? The recent case of “Estate of Nelson…
Tinig ng Marino – July -August 2014 ATTY. AUGUSTO R. BUNDANG Head, Litigation and Seafarers Department Sapalo Velez Bundang and Bulilan Law Offices Is the injury suffered by the seafarer the result of an “accident” thereby entitling him to higher disability benefits under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)? This is the question posed in…
April 8, 2012 CodeRed FAITH AND REASON By: Atty. Tito R. Bundang The website of the National Center for Victims of Crime, a nonprofit organization in the U.S. which advocates for victims’ rights, defines ‘domestic violence’ as that which constitutes willful intimidation, assault, battery, sexual assault or other abusive behavior perpetrated by one family…
February 2, 2012 CODE RED FAITH AND REASON By: Atty. Tito Bundang Whoever said that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” may have been unaware that it is not only the apple that maintains a person’s health, but the presence of a loving mother who carefully hands the apple and provides him…
July 8, 2011 CodeRed Proposed Column Title: “Fides et Ratio” CUSTODY DISPUTE: CHILD’S BEST INTEREST by: Atty. Tito R. Bundang I sat motionless but perturbed, my heart beating fast, yet I could not take my eyes off the theater screen. The characters in the scene were in a courtroom, husband…
Unreasonable Non-Deployment Will the unreasonable nondeployment of a seafarer entitle him to payment of actual damages? The most recent case of Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group, Inc. and Chung Gai Ship Management vs. Sulpecio Medequillo, Jr. (G.R. No. 177498, January 18, 2012) confirms the standing rule that a seafarer must indeed be compensated as a result of…
Pinoy seafarers victims of piracy deserve equal protection of law Through the initiative of the SVBB law firm, the Democratic Independent Workers’ Association (DIWA) party-list representative is asking the Congress’ House committee on overseas workers affairs to look into the recent sea piracy incidents involving Filipino seafarers. In House Resolution 1474, filed last July 13,…
Illegal Dismissal Benefits In case of illegal dismissal, how much is a seafarer entitled to receive from his employers? His salaries for the unexpired portion of his employment contract or his salaries for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired term, whichever is less? The recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the…
Does a ‘fit to work” assessment issued by a company-designated physician beyond the 120-day period from the time the seafarer was medically repatriated, bar the latter from securing permanent and total disability benefits? The recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Antonio M. Serrano vs. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc. and Marlow Navigation…