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G.R. No. 121962 – 306 SCRA 497 – Labor Law – Labor Relations – Illegal Dismissal – Collective Bargaining Agreement
Esperanza Escorpizo was a high school teacher in the University of Baguio contracted to be a probationary teacher from 1989-1991. The terms of her employment stipulate that in order for her to be regularized, she should get a satisfactory rating and she should pass the board examination for teachers. After the lapse of her probationary period, UB was not supposed to re-sign her because she failed the board exam but upon her pleading she was re-signed for one year but still a probationary. She took the board exam again but she failed during the same school year. So when UB was considering the list of teachers for next year, Escorpizo was no longer considered. Meanwhile, Escorpizo again took the exam this time she passed. But UB no longer took her in to teach. Her labor union (UB Faculty Education Workers Union) assisted her in suing UB averring that in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), passing the board is not a requisite to be regularized.
ISSUE: Whether or not Escorpizo should be reinstated as a teacher.
HELD: No. Escorpizo was not illegally dismissed. UB was well within its right to require its teachers to pass the board before teaching. The Department of Education also rolled out an order requiring that teachers should pass the board before teaching. This is to ensure the quality of education in the country. As between the CBA and the DECS order, what should prevail is the requirement/s so provided by the government.
Read Civil Procedure version of this digest here.
