By KIMBERLIE OLMAYA NGABIT-QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Illegally dismissed teachers of the Saint Luis University (SLU) lauded the Supreme Court (SC) for affirming the decision of the lower courts to reinstate one of their colleagues.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-Metro Baguio Secretary General Ronald Taggaoa said the SC decision was a landmark decision. He stressed that this decision commiserates with the teachers’ struggle against contractuali-zation.

“This (SC decision) is the victory of all teachers in the country. It gives courage to all the other teachers fighting for their rights and hopefully encourage those who at some point lost hope,” he said.

In a resolution the SC denied SLU administration’s petition for review of the Court of Appeals (CA) decision affirming the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to reinstate Jonathan G. Florendo and pay his backwages.

The NLRC decision affirmed by the CA and SC noted that that based on the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of the SLU faculty and administration Florendo was a regular employee and was illegally dismissed entitling him to reinstatement and payment of backwages and attorney’s fees.

Taggaoa explained that their CBA provided that the probationary period of an employee for evaluation covers two years or four consecutive semesters. He said the SLU administration did not regularize Florendo but rehired him for three years or six consecutive semesters, which is beyond the required probationary period.

The SC resolution dated December 13, 2010 stated, “the Court resolves to deny the motion with finality” pointing out that there was no “substantial argument” to warrant a review or reconsider the CA decision.

Florendo was illegally dismissed on April 1, 2007 after teaching as contractual for over three years. In a December 28, 2007 decision the NLRC Cordillera ordered the reinstatement of Florendo and the payment of his backwages. The SLU administration then appealed the case at the NLRC national office then to the CA until the SC.

Taggaoa disclosed that Florendo is not alone and that there are thousands of teachers all over the country suffering the same plight. He added that in SLU alone there at least three similar cases filed at the NLRC Cordillera that received favorable decision.

He mentioned that Aldrin Apolonio, Luis Pongod and Edita Docayso were recently ordered reinstated by Hon.Vito Bose, NLRC Cordillera Executive Labor Arbiter after being illegally dismissed.

“This only proves that institutions should respect the right of teachers to security of tenure,” Taggaoa said as he called on SLU to implement the NLRC and SC decision.

Lawyer Cheryl Daytec of the National Union of Peoples Lawyer (NUPL) pointed out that the SC decision on Florendo’s case is a victory not just for the teaching profession but to all laborers in the country. She added that contractualization is not unique to SLU or the education sector as she mentioned that workers of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company are threatened to lose their jobs to contactual labor.

Daytec explained that under the labor code workers who have been employed for six months and beyond should be considered regular employees which entitles them to more benefits. She further said while there is no particular law prohibitting contactualization, the law does not condone the use of this scheme to violate the workers’ labor rights such as the right to just compensation and security of tenure.

Daytec added that the NUPL is happy with the SC decision for upholding the rights of the employees. # nordis.net