Mallo v. Southeast Asian College GR No. 212861

G.R. No.
212861, October 14, 2015

MELVIN P. MALLO v. SOUTHEAST ASIAN COLLEGE, INC. AND EDITA ENATSU
PERLAS-BERNABE, J.
FACTS: The instant case arose from a complaint for, inter alia, unfair labor practice, illegal
dismissal, underpayment of salary/wages, damages, and attorney's fees filed by Mallo against
respondents Southeast Asian College, Inc. (SACI) and its Executive President/Chief Executive
Officer, Edita F. Enatsu (Enatsu; collectively, respondents) before the NLRC. Mallo alleged that
SACI first hired him as a Probationary Full-Time Faculty Member of its College of Nursing and
Midwifery with the rank of Assistant Professor C for the Second Semester of School Year (SY)
2007-2008 and, thereafter, his employment was renewed for the succeeding semesters until the
Summer Semester of SY 2010-2011. On June 3 and 8, 2011, Mallo inquired about his teaching
load for the First Semester of SY 2011-2012, but SACI only responded that teaching assignments
for the semester were yet to be given to faculty members. Thereafter, on June 15, 2011, he
learned from a co-professor that faculty meetings were conducted on June 9 and 10, 2011
whereby teaching loads were distributed to the professors. Upon learning of this development,
Mallo went again to SACI to confront the Dean of the College of Nursing, Dr. Clarita D. Curato
(Dr. Curato). Claiming that he was already a permanent employee of SACI, having been a
professor of SACI for almost four (4) years since his first teaching assignment in November 2007,
Mallo demanded that he be given his corresponding teaching load. However, Dr. Curato simply
retorted that the school was under no obligation to give him any teaching loads for the semester
because he was merely a contractual employee. As such, Mallo was constrained to file the instant
complaint against respondents.
In their defense, respondents denied dismissing Mallo, maintaining that as early as April 2011 and
as evidenced by Dr. Curato's letter to the Medical Center Chief II of the National Center for Mental
Health (NCMH), SACI already gave Mallo his teaching load for the First Semester of SY 20112012 - as Clinical Instructor for the College of Nursing's Preceptorship Program, an on-the-job
mentoring and ongoing clinical experience of students under the Nursing Related Learning
Experience (NLRE) curriculum, to be conducted at NCMH. Unfortunately, Mallo twice failed the
qualifying test required for the job. This notwithstanding, SACI endeavored to give Mallo a
teaching load by appointing him as a Clinical Instructor for Preceptorship Program to be
conducted at the United Doctors Medical Center (UDMC) instead, beginning June 23, 2011,
which he accepted. However, a day before he was set to start as a Clinical Instructor at UDMC,
Mallo asked for a change in schedule, which was denied as it would entail a reshuffle of the entire
NLRE schedule of the school. On June 23 to 25, 2011, Mallo did not attend his classes at UDMC.
This prompted a S ACI official to contact Mallo if he would report for work the following day, to
which the latter allegedly replied in the negative as his schedule with SACI conflicted with his new
employment. Thereafter, SACI never heard from Mallo again until he filed the instant case.
ISSUE: Whether or not there was no illegal dismissal and that Mallo abandoned his job.
HELD: The petition is partly meritorious. At the outset, the Court notes that the LA, the NLRC,
and the CA were one in declaring that Mallo's employment with SACI had already attained the
status of a regular employee. However, a scrutiny of the records reveals that their factual findings
differ as to whether or not Mallo was illegally dismissed or had abandoned his job. In instances
where there is a divergence in the findings of facts of the NLRC and that of the CA, there is a
need for the Court to review the records to determine which of them should be preferred as more
conformable to evidentiary facts, as in this case.
Here, Mallo insists that respondents illegally dismissed him because the latter failed to give him
any teaching load for the First Semester of SY 2011-2012. On the other hand, respondents
vehemently deny Mallo's claims, maintaining that they promptly gave him his teaching
assignment and that the latter even initially accepted the same, but such assignment was
eventually turned down due to a conflict in schedule with his new employment in another school.
In termination cases, the onus of proving that an employee was not dismissed or, if dismissed,
his dismissal was not illegal fully rests on the employer; the failure to discharge such onus would
mean that the dismissal was not justified and, therefore, illegal.
The records readily show that as early as April 2011, respondents already assigned Mallo a
teaching load for the First Semester of SY 2011-2012 as a Clinical Instructor for SACI students to
be assigned at NCMH, which the latter accepted. Unfortunately, Mallo failed the qualifying tests at
NCMH twice, thus, virtually disqualifying him from performing his work as SACFs Clinical
Instructor thereat. Despite these developments, respondents were able to remedy the situation,
albeit belatedly, by assigning Mallo as a Clinical Instructor at UDMC instead, as shown in the
Tentative Faculty Loading dated June 24, 2011. In view of the foregoing, the Court is inclined to
hold that respondents never dismissed Mallo from his job.
While the Court concurs with the CA that Mallo was not illegally dismissed, the Court does not
agree that he had abandoned his work. The concept of abandonment in labor law had been
thoroughly discussed in Tan Brothers Corporation of Basilan City v. Escudero:
As defined under established jurisprudence, abandonment is the deliberate and unjustified
refusal of an employee to resume his employment. It constitutes neglect of duty and is a just
cause for termination of employment under paragraph (b) of Article 282 [now Article 296] of the
Labor Code. To constitute abandonment, however, there must be a clear and deliberate
intent to discontinue one's employment without any intention of returning. In this regard,
two elements must concur: (1) failure to report for work or absence without valid or
justifiable reason; and (2) a clear intention to sever the employer-employee relationship,
with the second element as the more determinative factor and being manifested by some
overt acts. Otherwise stated, absence must be accompanied by overt acts unerringly pointing to
the fact that the employee simply does not want to work anymore. It has been ruled that the
employer has the burden of proof to show a deliberate and unjustified refusal of the employee to
resume his employment without any intention of returning.
In this case, records are bereft of any indication that Mallo's absence from work was deliberate,
unjustified, and with a clear intent to sever his employment relationship with SACI. While
respondents claim to have assigned Mallo as Clinical Instructor at UDMC after failing the
qualifying tests at NCMH, which assignment the latter initially accepted, but eventually declined,
there is no proof that Mallo was informed of such assignment. It bears stressing that a party
alleging a critical fact must support his allegation with substantial evidence for any decision based
on unsubstantiated allegation cannot stand as it will offend due process.
More importantly, Mallo's filing of a complaint for illegal dismissal, coupled with his prior acts of
actively inquiring about his teaching load, negate any intention on his part to sever his
employment. Indeed, it is simply absurd for Mallo to provide continuous service to SACI for more
than three (3) years in order to attain a regular status, only to leave his job without any justifiable
reason and, thereafter, file a case in an attempt to recover the same. To reiterate, abandonment
of position is a matter of intention and cannot be lightly inferred, much less legally presumed,
from certain equivocal acts.
In sum, since Mallo's was not dismissed and that he never abandoned his job, it is only proper for
him to report back to work and for respondents to reinstate him to his former position or a
substantially-equivalent one in its stead. In this regard, jurisprudence provides that in instances
where there was neither dismissal by the employer nor abandonment by the employee, the
proper remedy is to reinstate the employee to his former position but without the award of
backwages. Respondents Southeast Asian College, Inc. and Edita F. Enatsu are ordered to
REINSTATE Mallo to his former position or a substantially-equivalent one in its stead, but
without backwages.

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G.R. No.

212861, October 14, 2015

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