MANILA, Philippines–The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has upheld the validity of Digitel Telecommunications’ redundancy program, Digitel owner Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said in a statement.
The NLRC resolution issued this week puts to rest the labor dispute between Digitel, operator of Sun Cellular, and a group of complainants in the Digitel Employees Union (DEU), which questioned the Digitel redundancy program carried out in early 2013.
With the NLRC resolution, these 86 remaining DEU group members are now entitled to separation benefits from the redundancy program.
The NLRC resolution also confirmed the findings in the NLRC’s March 18, 2014, decision that the Digitel telecommunications network had reached its “end of life” stage, and that it was financially impossible for Digitel to have upgraded and modernized its network—leading to the migration of Digitel subscribers to PLDT.