G.R. No.

170388

September 4, 2013

Del Castillo, J.

Colegio del Santisimo Rosario (CSR) & Sr. Zenaida S. Mofada v. Emmanuel Rojo

CSR hired Emmanuel as a high school teacher on a probationary basis for the SY92-93, 93-94,
94-95. On April 5, 1995, CSR through Sr. Mofada decided not to renew Emmanuel's contract.
On July 13, 1995, Emmanuel filed a complaint for illegal dismissal. Claiming he had served the
maximum term for probationary employment and should be considered permanent, he cited:
o Paragraph 75 of the 1970 Manual of Regulations of Private Schools: "full-time teachers
who have rendered three (3) consecutive years of satisfactory services shall be
considered permanent."
Petitioners CSR and Sr. Mofada argue:
o Emmanuel knew his contract for SY94-95 would expire on March 31, 1995. Accordingly,
he was not dismissed; his probationary contract merely expired.
o The "3 consecutive years" mentioned in the 1970 Manual refer to "36 months", not "3
school years". Since a school year is only 10 months, Emmanuel served only 30 months.
LA: Emmanuel already attained regular employment status. "3 consecutive years" pertains to
school years. Petitioners were guilty of bad faith in insisting that the school board deliberated on
his non-renewal without submitting admissible proof of his alleged performance evaluation. LA
awarded separation pay, 13th month pay, moral and exemplary damages, and attorney's fees.
NLRC: Affirmed LA with modification. Emmanuel attained regular employment status especially
because CSR did not make known to him the reasonable standards he should meet. He is
entitled to reinstatement (or if not viable, separation pay), and backwages.
CA: Affirmed NLRC. There was no showing that CSR set performance standards which could be
the basis of his satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance. Hence, there being no reasonable
standards made known to him at the time of his engagement, Emmanuel was deemed a regular
employee and was illegally dismissed when his contract was not renewed.

W/N Emmanuel had attained the status of a regular employee YES. CA decision affirmed.
1. Applicable law

Mercado v. AMA: Cases dealing with probationary employment of teaching personnel are
not governed solely by the Labor Code. The law is supplemented by special rules in the
Manual of Regulations for Private Schools. Sec. 92 provides:
o SEC. 92. Probationary Period. - Subject in all instances to compliance with the
Department and school requirements, the probationary period for academic personnel
shall not be more than 3 consecutive years of satisfactory service for those in the
elementary and secondary levels, 6 consecutive regular semesters of satisfactory
service for those in the tertiary level, and 9 consecutive trimesters of satisfactory service
for those in the tertiary level where collegiate courses are offered on a trimester basis.
Magis Young Achievers' Learning Center v. Manalo: Common practice is for schools to hire
teachers for 1-year periods. It is when the yearly contract is renewed for the third time that
Section 93 of the Manual becomes operative, and the teacher then is entitled to regular or
permanent employment status. This scheme of fixed-term contract during the probationary
period is subject to Art. 281 of the Labor Code, as supported by Sec. 93 of the 1992 Manual:
o SEC. 93. Regular or Permanent Status. - Those who have served the probationary
period shall be made regular or permanent. Full-time teachers who have satisfactorily
completed their probationary period shall be considered regular or permanent.
CSR v. Rojo |

2. Reasonable standards should be made known at the start of the probationary period

The use of the term satisfactorily in Sec. 93 necessarily connotes the requirement for
schools to set reasonable standards to be followed by teachers on probationary
employment. For how else can one determine if probationary teachers have satisfactorily
completed the probationary period if standards therefor are not provided?
As the Court said in Mercado v. AMA:
o Labor, for its part, is given the protection during the probationary period of knowing the
company standards the new hires have to meet during the probationary period, and to
be judged on the basis of these standards, aside from the usual standards applicable to
employees after they achieve permanent status. Under the terms of the Labor Code,
these standards should be made known to the teachers on probationary status at
the start of their probationary period, or at the very least under the circumstances
of the present case, at the start of the semester or the trimester during which the
probationary standards are to be applied. Of critical importance in invoking a
failure to meet the probationary standards, is that the school should show as a
matter of due process how these standards have been applied. This is effectively
the second notice in a dismissal situation that the law requires as a due process
guarantee supporting the security of tenure provision, and is in furtherance, too, of the
basic rule in employee dismissal that the employer carries the burden of justifying a
dismissal. These rules ensure compliance with the limited security of tenure guarantee
the law extends to probationary employees.
For teachers on probationary employment, it is incumbent upon the school to have not only set
reasonable standards to be followed by said teachers in determining qualification for regular
employment, the same must have also been communicated to the teachers at the start of the
probationary period, or at the very least, at the start of the period when they were to be applied.
Corollarily, should the teachers not have been apprised of such reasonable standards at
the time specified above, they shall be deemed regular employees.
In this case, glaringly absent from petitioners evidence are the reasonable standards
that respondent was expected to meet that could have served as proper guidelines for
purposes of evaluating his performance. Nowhere in the Teachers Contract could such
standards be found. Neither was it mentioned that the same were ever conveyed to
Emmanuel. Even assuming that he failed to meet the standards set forth by CSR and made
known to the former at the time he was engaged as a teacher on probationary status, still, the
termination was flawed for failure to give the required notice. As a matter of due process,
teachers on probationary employment, just like all probationary employees, have the right to
know whether they have met the standards against which their performance was evaluated.
Should they fail, they also have the right to know the reasons therefor.

3. Presumption of satisfactory performance

Absent any showing of unsatisfactory performance on the part of Emmanuel, it can be

presumed that his performance was satisfactory, especially taking into consideration the fact
that even while he was still more than a year into his probationary employment, he was already
designated Prefect of Discipline. In such capacity, he was able to uncover the existence of a
drug syndicate within the school and lessen the incidence of drug use therein. Yet despite his
substantial contribution to the school, petitioners chose to disregard the same and instead
terminated his services; while most of those who were involved in drug activities within the
school were punished with a slap on the wrist as they were merely made to write letters
promising that the incident will not happen again.
Bianca Danica Santiago Villarama

CSR v. Rojo |