LEGAL BASES OF

EDUCATION
Presented by:
PSUPT SALVADOR E DAGOON, JR.
DCDO/ C, CIB, ICPO

THE LEGAL BASES OF

TEACHERS AS PERSONS IN
AUTHORITY
Introduction
Definitions

of Persons in Authority
P in A distinguished from Agents of
Person in Authority
Original concept of Teachers as Persons
in Authority
When a Teacher is not deemed a Person
in Authority
Direct assault differentiated from
resistance and disobedience
Limitations

INTRODUCTION
This topic presents a discussion on the
legal bases of Teachers as Persons in
Authority. The importance of this dimension
in the life of teachers cannot be
overemphasized. In several instances, the
authority of the teacher had been put to the
limelight.
This topic will discuss the legalities behind
the phrase teachers as persons in authority.

DEFINITIONS OF PERSONS IN
AUTHORITY
Under

the Revised Penal Code of the

Philippines, a person in authority is one
directly vested with jurisdiction, whether as an
individual or a member of some court or
government corporation, board or commission.
(article 152, Revised Penal Code).

IN ESSENCE, TEACHERS ARE NOT

PERSON IN AUTHORITY SINCE THEY
ARE NOT DIRECTLY VESTED WITH
JURISDICTION OR POWER TO GOVERN
AND EXECUTE LAWS. BUT BY LEGAL
FICTION
BECAUSE
OF
THE
PROVISIONS OF COMMONWEALTH ACT
578 DULY AMENDED BY ARTICLE 152 OF
THE REVISED PENAL CODE, TEACHERS
BECAME PERSONS IN AUTHORITY

BY THE PHRASE DIRECTLY VESTED

WITH JURISDICTION IS MEANT THE
POWER OR AUTHORITY TO GOVERN
AND
EXECUTE
THE
LAWS,
PARTICULARLY
THE
AUTHORITY
VESTED
IN
THE
JUDGES
TO
ADMINISTER JUSTICE, THAT IS, TO TRY
CIVIL OR CRIMINAL CASES OR BOTH
AND TO RENDER JUDGMENT IN
ACCORDANCE WITH LAWS (PEOPLE VS.
MENDOZA, 59 PHIL. 163).

THE TERM PERSONS

IN AUTHORITY
ACCORDING TO COURT DECISIONS, ALSO
INCLUDE
MUNICIPAL
MAYOR,
PROVINCIAL
FISCALS,
MUNICIPAL
COUNCILORS AND BARANGAY CHAIRMAN

PERSONS IN AUTHORITY DISTINGUISHED

FROM AGENTS OF PERSON IN AUTHORITY
Persons in authority should not be taken to mean
as agents of a person in authority. This is because
an agent of a person in authority is one who, by
direct provision of law or by election or by
appointment by competent authority is charged
with the maintenance of public order and the
protection and security of life and property, such
as barrio policeman and any person who comes to
the aid of persons in authority.
The following are considered as agents of persons
in authority: policeman, municipal treasurer,
postmaster, rural policeman, sheriff, agent of the
BIR. So when a policeman claims that he is a
person in authority, he is absolutely and legally
wrong because he is just an agent of the persons in
authority.

PERSON IN AUTHORITY AS
DIFFERENTIATED FROM PUBLIC OFFICER

Persons in authority should also be

differentiated from public officer. A public
officer is any person who, by direct
provision of law, popular elections or
appointment by competent authority,
shall take part in the performance of
public functions in the government of the
Philippines or shall perform in said
government public duties as an employee,
agent or subordinate official or any rank
or class. Article 203, Revised Penal Code).

In essence, therefore, any

person in the government service
is a public officer as defined. But
the important thing is that he is
not necessarily a person in
authority or an agent thereof.

ORIGINAL CONCEPT OF
TEACHERS AS PERSONS IN
AUTHORITY
It is originally conceived that law did not
consider teachers a person in authority.
It was held in People vs. Mendoza, 59
Phil 163, that when a high school student
slapped his teacher on the check while
she was engaged in the performance of
her duties as a teacher, the crime
committed was only a light felony. This
offense
is
punishable
by
the
imprisonment of not more than 30 days
instead of assault upon a person in
authority punishable up to 6 years of
prison correctional.

What happened, then was that when the

person attacked or slapped or boxed was the
teacher and the attacker was the student or
pupil, the only aggravating circumstance was
that the act was committed with grave insult
or in utter disregard for the respect which may
due the teacher on account of his rank. This is
contained in U.S vs. Cabiling, 7 Phil. 769.
By that time, there was no mantle of protection
accorded to teachers
.

 From

then on, there were several instances of assault

and attacks against teachers, instructors, professors,
and other public and private officials of schools.
With the passage of Commonwealth Act No. 578 on
June 8, 1940 which amended Article 152 of the RPC,
this picture completely changed.
With that Act, teachers, professors and the persons
charged with supervision of educational institutions
were raised to the rank of the persons in authority.
The intent and spirit behind the amendment are very
obvious. They are inherently rooted in the very
person of the teacher who is not merely an
intellectual referee in the intellectual playfield and in
the market of ideas but a person of dignity and
respect.

WHEN A TEACHER IS NOT

DEEMED A PERSON IN
AUTHORITY
There are instances when the teacher even
while inside the school premises is not
covered by the phrase person in authority
When the teacher goes out of the classroom
to talk to a person on matters not related to
the school or his duties.
Assault
upon a person in authority,
nevertheless, does not consist merely in
attacking or laying hands on the persons in
authority. It also extends to serious
resistance. This means that there is active
resistance or serious intimidation on the
part of the attacker.

TEACHERS AND THEIR

SECURITY OF TENURE: SOME
LEGAL BASES
The phrase security of tenure is a
constitutional guarantee. The 1987
Philippine Constitution, Article IX, B.
The Civil Service Commission, Sec. 2,
sub section 3 states: No officer or
employee of the civil service shall be
removed or suspended except for
cause provided by law. Sub-section 6
also provides: Temporary employees
of the Government shall be given such
protection as may be provided by law.

THE ESSENCE OF SECURITY OF

TENURE

Professor Vicente G. Sinco in his book Philippine

Political Law, has stated: Nothing can be more
demoralizing to a group of civil servants than the
fear that they might be removed from their posts
anytime at the pleasure of their superiors.

Thus , it is essentially true that a demoralized force

is an inefficient force. Security of tenure is a
condition sine qua non (condition that is
indispensable) for obtaining efficiency and
effectiveness in the Civil Service.

Security of tenure does not only mean that the

employee is protected against illegal dismissal. It
also
guarantees
the
employees
against
unwarranted transfers made without their consent.

Most Frequently Asked Question(MFAQ) in

Legal Bases of Education and Their
Possible Answers( Or a Simplified
Catechetic in Legal Bases of Education)

Question: This question is in

connection with student arrest
in the school premises. Suppose
the arresting officer taking the
student under custody is a
member of the military
establishment properly
identified but without a
warrant of arrest, what would
be the responsibility of the
school if the student injury is
sustained within the campus.?

Answer: The school authorities

have no liability. The reason is
that they could not fight the
police or military
establishment. In this
connection, the Supreme Court
gives the advice that when one
is picked up by the police
officer, he should not argue with
the policeman. He must argue
in court.

Question: Is a parents
signature permitting his child
to join an outing or excursion
or field trip tantamount to a
waiver ? Suppose something
happens to the student.

Answer: It is not a waiver. A

parent just gives the
permission to his child to
join the outing or excursion
or field trip but not the
permission to be injured.

Question: Assuming that one

can prove that he exercised
proper diligence, what then is
the parameter for proper?
When do we know it is proper
or not proper? What constitutes
proper or not proper? Who will
decide that?

Answer: According to the Supreme

Court of the Philippines, you cannot
show that the diligence exercised
was proper by calibrated degrees.
Each case will have to depend of the
circumstances surrounding the
event. It is found in the Latin quis,
quid, quibos, quor, quomodo,
quando. What is proper diligence is
one case may not be so in another
circumstance because of difference
in the attendant circumstances.
There are no hard and fast rules that
can possibly be given.

Question: Would the school

authority be liable for any
accident that happens to its
students in the school bus or
because of traffic accidents to
and from the school?

Answer: If the school bus

belongs to the school, the school
is liable. If it belongs to a
private company, then the
concessionaire is the one that is
liable.

Question: Suppose that in a

student evaluation a teacher is
consistently graded in a
manner of leading to the
conclusion that the teacher is
inefficient, would this be
ground for dismissing the
teachers?

Answer: If the testimony of

the students is convincing
and with due process, yes.

Question: Suppose something

happens to the student on the
way from the school to the
police precinct, what is the
schools liability?

Answer: The school has no

liability. Nothing the reason is
that the student is now under
police custody.

Question: It is said that most

foolishness and conduct unbecoming of
a student occur when the teacher fails
to class on time and also when the
teacher dismisses her class too early,
let us say, twenty minutes after the
time or fifteen minutes before the time.
Since every school head is after
escaping liability, may he issue as an
exercise of diligence, a regulation that
anything that may happen within the
period when the teacher is supposed
to be in the classroom will be his
liability and that the school head has
nothing to do with it.

Answer: If it was already known to the

school authorities that a particular
teacher are in the habit of coming to
class late or dismissing classes too
early, and the school has not done
anything about , then the school is still
liable. The regulation should be a
general rule such as an announcement
at the beginning of the school year or
during faculty and teachers meeting
and that violation of that rule will be
ground for disciplinary action on the
teacher. That teacher shall be subject
to administrative action.

Question: Suppose during a

class a student leaves without
the teachers permission. Then,
he meets an accident outside
the school campus. The
question is : is the teacher, and
therefore the school, liable?

Answer: In such a case the age of the

student will be the one to be the
deciding factor. If the student is a
minor the law requires that the
school post guards so that the
students cannot go out during class
hours. If he is of age and he goes out
of the school, the school is not
liable. The schools negligence will
be for failure to post guards for the
security of the students who are
considered minors.

Question: How do you

differentiate tenure from
term of office?

Answer: The word tenure refers to the period of

time during which the incumbent is in office where
the word term of office refers to the period of
time during which the incumbent has the right to
be in office. And the word office is a position with
any power of sovereignty-legislative, executive,
administrative, or judicial. (Jose Ma. Aruego, The
New Philippines Constitution Explained, p.127.)
For Amado Dizon in his Teachers Day in Court
tenure is a professional status conferred upon a
faculty members at such time as he is judged by
competent authorities to have demonstrated his
competency and moral fitness sufficient to warrant
recognition of this achievement in accordance with
the initial contract of employment.

Question: If an educational
institution converts itself into a
foundation and any of its
employees and teachers refuse
to become part of the
foundation, would the refusal
be tantamount to separation?

Answer: In the words of the supreme

Court, transfer is not just physical
severance but the fact of being
separated, Now, If a school employee
or teacher refuses to be absorbed by
the foundation, he has thereby made
his own decision. In the words of the
Existentialist Philosopher Jean Paul
Sartre, a person who make a decision is
the moral one and the one who cannot
make a decision is the immoral one.
Now, he has thereby made his own
decision. He has laid off himself. In
short , he has dismissed himself!

Question: Suppose s school

transfer location due to a
government order on dispersal,
is the refusal of the teacher to
join that school that transfer
location be a ground for
separation. And may the
Commission hold the school
accountable?

Answer: Because the relocation

of the school is mandated by the
State whoever refuses to join to
the migration and complains to
the Commission on account of
his separation would have to
convince the NLRC that he
school was acting in bad faith.

Question: Why is it difficult to

dismiss inefficient faculty
members and yet comparatively
easy for a faculty member to
walk out of his school with very
little penalty?

Answer : The question has, of course,

serious socio-economic and moral
implications. The state has to use its police
power to counter act certain pressures in
the free world economy. In a developing
country like the Philippines which has a
labor-excess economy, Which means that
here we have a situation where the man
runs after the job and not the job running
after the man, the guidelines are based on
the philosophy that unemployed workers
constitute a social burden to the
government and such a situation should
not be recommended to escalate. Moreover,
the philosophy of egalitarian must be used
here where the State is guided by the
motto: the greatest good for the greatest
number.

Question: If a professor carries

on an affair with the female
student and the affair is carried
on outside the school, may the
professor be charged with
immorality? Or if an unmarried
teacher should become
pregnant is this a case of
immorality?

Answer: Moral standards

supposed to be universal. Such
a situation should not be
tolerated whether the school is
private or public.

Question: What is our law on

tenure?

Answer: The explicit mandate of the

1987 Philippines Constitution
enjoins the State to assure the
security of tenure of workers in
employment. This constitutional
provision abolishes the almost
absolute right of the employer under
the Termination Pay Law (RA 1787)
to terminate at any time the services
of his employees even without just
cause. (Department of Labor Staff
Committee on Labor Code.)

Question: What statutory

law implements the
constitutional provision on
tenure?

Answer: The statutory law that

implements the constitutional
provision on tenure is Presidential
Decree 442, as amended, which took
effect last May 1, 1974. Specifically
its pertinent provision that In
cases of employment without a
definite period, the employer shall
not terminate the services of an
employee expect for a just cause or
when authorized by this Title.
(Article 269, Labor Code)

Question: What is the effect of

an unjust dismissal of an
employee?

Answer: He shall be entitled to

reinstatement without loss of
seniority rights and to his back
wages computed from the time
his compensation which was
withheld up to the time of his
actual reinstatement. (Article
269. Labor Code)

Question: What do you

mean by dismissal for a just
cause?

Answer: As a sufficient ground

for dismissal, a just cause is a
legal cause and not merely a
cause, which the appointing
power, and the exercise of his
discretion , deems sufficient. It
is the statutory prescription of
the cause of termination of
employment.( Case cited is
Lacson vs. Roque G.R.
16225,1935).

Question: What exactly do

we mean by probationary
period?

Answer: Under the Labor Code,

the probationary actually the
period needed to determined
fitness for the job. This period,
due to lack of a better
measurement, is deemed to be
the period needed to learn the
job.(Policy No. 11, DOL., April
23,1976.)

Question: What is the

probationary period for
employees covered by the
Labor Code?

Answer: The general probationary

period is actually six months, if the job
is apprenticeable, the probationary
period is the apprenticeship period ,
which may range from less than six to
more six months depending upon the
nature of the job. The probationary
employment of the professors,
instructors, and teachers shall be
subject to standards established by the
Department of Education and
Culture(Policy Instruction No.11).
However , for those working in the
DepEd now, there is no more
probationary period.

Question: What is the

liability, if any, or to what
extent will heads of schools
liable for mass
demonstration similar to
those Thailand or in China?

Answer: Mass demonstration

are without sanction of the
school activities. Therefore,
the schools are not liable.

Question: Suppose the

demonstration is inside the
school premises without
permission of the school
authorities during class hours
just like what happen to the
University of Southern
Mindanao way back in 1983s ,
what liabilities do the school
officials of the have?

Answer: If the activity is in

violation of school regulations
and school authorities had tried
their best to stop it, the school
would not be liable. The school
will be held liable if there was
implied consent.

Question: In case of an
arrest of students during
class hours, what is the
liability of the school if it
refuses to surrender a
student?

Answer: This is disobedience

to lawful authority. The
school is therefore held
liable.

Question: In the September 16, 1978 issue

of Times Magazines, mention is made of a
Court decision which awarded a student
twenty thousand dollars as
compensatory damages from a university
in Washington, D.C., as a result of having
been raped in the school gymnasium.
Since there are hints that United States
decisions could have persuasive effect on
Philippine jurisprudence, is there a
possibility that a similar ruling might be
made on Philippines schools for failure
to provide what the U.S. decision
referred to as proper security in the
gymnasium at the time the rape was
committed?

Answer: By nature, our laws are

utterly different. There is only a
presumption of negligence on
the part of the school for the
negligence of its employees and
that its rebuttable.
Furthermore , no foreign
decisions can go against
express provisions of
Philippines law.

Question: Can a teacher who

has to use force in a
students fight be held liable
if he accidentally hurts a
students in trying to stop
the fight?

Answer: No, because the

teacher was acting in the
performance of lawful duty.
However, the force employed by
the teacher must be
commensurate with the danger
involved. As person in authority
a teacher can exercise higher
degree of force than expected to
an ordinary individual.

Question: Is there direct

assault if both offender and
offended are person in
authority?

Answer: In a case where a

superintendent boxed a
fellow superintendent
because of conflict of
jurisdiction, it was ruled
that there was no assault.

Question: Is serious
vandalism committed by an
employee against the
property of teachers in the
classroom considered as
assault of person in
authority?

Answer: The offense may be

termed malicious mischief
or destruction of property
with evil motive, etc.

Question: Is a student liable

for direct assault upon a
person in authority even if
the act was committed
during recess time and not
in actual performance of the
teachers duties?

Answer: Yes, as long as it is

by reason or no occasion of
the teachers duties. When
we say on occasion of the
reason behind the assault
was the performance of the
teachers duties.

Question: If a students refusal

to obey a teacher in public
provokes the teachers anger
who loses his temper and slaps
the student or even manhandles
him, should the school officials
side with the teacher or the
student?

Answer: That situation is a

plain case of the teacher taking
the law into her own hands- the
teacher becomes the offender
and the student, his victim.
More importantly, the offense is
even aggravated by the teacher
being a person in authority.

Question: Are CAT and

ROTC cadets considered as
agents of persons in
authority when deputized
by the school authorities to
enforce school regulations
like not the school premises
students without I.D.?

Answer: No, they are not

and will never be.

Question: When we refer to

students assaulting persons
in authority, do we refer
only to students currently
enrolled or does this include
student who have been
granted honorable
dismissal?

Answer: The law does not

mention students only. It
includes non-students,
parents, even strangers. If a
student was flunked by a
professor there is direct
assault on a person in
authority.

Question: In most barrios I t is

difficult to divorce the social
functions of a teacher from
the academic. If a teacher
attends a school social
function and in refusing to
dance with a man she gets
slapped-suffering as a
consequence contusions in
the face, is there direct
assault on a person in
authority?

Answer: It depends on the

reason why the teacher
was slapped.

Question: The teacher

refused to dance with him
because he smells liquor.

Answer: The teachers refusal to

dance has nothing to do with the
performance of a teachers duty but
for a private reason . If a teacher is
in the performance of duty, if the
reason for the assault has nothing to
do with teacher( such as when a
teacher is explaining a lesson and a
creditor comes and slaps her in
front of the students) there is direct
assault of person in authority. The
reason is immaterial if the assault is
committed while the teacher is
performing her duties.

Question: Would homosexual

practices constitute just
cause for separation?

Answer: The attending

circumstances should be taken
into a account. In most state
universities and colleges as well
as private universities and
colleges, there is now a heavy
influx of homosexual.
Homosexuality is God-given . It
would be different if the
students were involved in the
teacher- homosexual practices.

Question: It is all right for a

teacher to court one of his
beautiful female students?

Answer: No. The Code of

Ethics for professional
Teacher strictly prohibits
any school official or teacher
from taking advantage of his
position in courting any of
his pupils or students.

Question: May a teacher,

professor or instructor
inflict corporal punishment
if a student disobey any
school rules or regulations?
Can he, for example, collar a
students?

Answer: Absolutely not. The

same Code cited previously says
that a School teacher or official
should not inflict corporal
punishment on offending pupils
or students, nor should he
makes deductions on their
scholastic ratings for acts that
clearly not a manifestation of
poor scholarships.

Question: Will the school be

held liable if the student,
who asked for permission to
go out, went out of the
campus and met with an
injury, the occurrence of the
injury being within the
school hours?

Answer: Under the Civil Code

paragraph 4, employers are liable
for injuries caused by their
employees while in the
performance of their assigned
task, then she is not liable. This is
from the standpoint of the Civil
Code. Even under Labor Laws, the
teacher will not be liable. This is
on the basis of existing definition
of injury compensable under the
Labor Code of the Philippines.

Question: If the school, being

the recipient of the benefits
from teachers, is liable for their
negligence, what action may the
school heads take against the
teacher who was the proximate
cause of the liability suffered by
the school?

Answer: Article 2181 of the

Civil Code of the Philippines
is very emphatic on its
answer to the question. It
says, employers or heads of
school that are made to pay
can bring an action to
recover from the teacher
who was liable.

Question: What is the rationale behind

the rule on preventive suspension?
Considering that when an employee
commits an offense his very presence
in the school is obviously unwanted
and unwarranted? Being
disgruntled he may only be the source
of trouble. In some instances, he may
even be a security risk as far as
property is concerned. He may even
contaminate other employees with his
ill feelings, why should he insist on
reporting for work when he is
actually on vacation with pay?

Answer: Preventive suspension

was instituted because of the
suspension of workers right to
strike, as a safeguard for the
benefit of deserving employees.
This is done to deter the
unscrupulous employer from
underhanded tactics or rash
suspension without valid
reason. The law provides for the
valid grounds for preventive
suspension.

Question: With regard to

prior administrative
proceeding within the
school what could be
considered due process
within the school setting?

Answer: To comply with the due

process requirement the
employee concerned must be
made to explain his side in
writing, and he must be given
hearing with the results thereof
properly documented. This
would provide a stronger basis
if the case has to be filed with
the Regional Office of the
Department of Labor and
Employee(DOLE).

Question: Why should not

parents be held liable for the
acts or omissions of their
children who are no longer
minors when the school is held
responsible for the acts or
omission of its student who are
of majority age? Is this not a
form of consistency?

Answer: According to the law,

Parental authority over the
child terminates upon the
childs reaching the majority
age. However, by reason of
enrolment in a school, the
school exercises custodial and
supervisory power over the
enrolled students no matter
what their ages are.

Question: Nowadays, students visit

to museum and other places of
historical and scientific interest
are encouraged. If the school
organizes field trips with
permission of the students parents
and despite proper diligence in
supervision something happens
during the trip, will the teachers in
charge be held liable? Or suppose
also, a female student gets
pregnant on account of the flied
trip. What is the schools liability?

Answer: The school is

liable under the doctrine
of custodial
responsibility.

Question: Therefore,
schools will be
discouraged from
organizing such field trip
or outing.

Answer: No, because all that the

law requires is that the school
or schools exercise proper
diligence. However, there are
schools, colleges or universities
whose leadership is given the
option not to allow such field
trip not only because of the
hard times but also because of
the risks involved.

Question: What
constitutes an
operational definition of
supervision and
control?

Answer: There is supervision in

the sense that the school
administration must have
direction of the students while
in the school both in extracurricular and academics
activities. In short, the student
must comply with the school
requirements and if the school
administration have that
control, they have the
supervision.

END OF PRESENTATION