RAYMOND A. SON, RAYMOND S. ANTIOLA, AND WILFREDO E. POLLARCO, PETITIONERS, V. UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS, FR. ROLANDO DELA ROSA, DR. CLARITA CARILLO, DR. CYNTHIA LOZA, FR. EDGARD…

Son versus University of Santo Tomas

The Case

This is a labor case about three full-time professors of the University of Santo Tomas who were not re-appointed because they had failed to obtain the Master's degree required of teachers in undergraduate programs. They claimed they had already acquired tenure by default under a provision of the faculty collective bargaining agreement, which promised that a teacher without a Master's degree who is nonetheless allowed to keep teaching beyond the prescribed period is deemed to have attained tenure. The University answered that the degree requirement is fixed by administrative regulation and by law, and that a collective bargaining agreement cannot override it. The case matters because it settles the hierarchy between a union contract and the State's power to prescribe minimum faculty qualifications, and because it tells us when a probationary teacher acquires tenure at all.

Procedural History

The professors filed a labor complaint for unfair labor practice, illegal dismissal, and money claims before the Labor Arbiter. The Labor Arbiter ruled in their favor, upheld the tenure by default clause, found that they were dismissed without due process, and awarded money claims, damages, and attorney's fees. The University appealed to the National Labor Relations Commission, which at first affirmed the Labor Arbiter. After the handling Commissioners inhibited themselves, a Special Division of the Commission set aside that ruling and dismissed the complaint, holding that the administrative regulation prevailed over the collective bargaining agreement. On reconsideration, the Second Division of the Commission reversed the Special Division and reinstated the Labor Arbiter's decision. The University then went to the Court of Appeals on certiorari. The Court of Appeals granted the petition, set aside the Commission's rulings, and reinstated the decision dismissing the complaint. The professors' motion for reconsideration was denied, so they came to the Supreme Court by petition for review on certiorari. The Supreme Court gave the petition due course and ultimately denied it.

Facts

The University of Santo Tomas is an educational institution operating under the authority of the Commission on Higher Education. The three petitioners were full-time professors in its Colleges of Fine Arts and Design and Philosophy, and members of the faculty union, with which the University had a collective bargaining agreement. Two were hired in June 2005 and one in June 2004. Their appointment papers designated them as faculty members on probationary status, whose accession to tenure was conditioned on meeting all the requirements under existing University rules and regulations and other applicable laws, including possession of the prerequisite graduate degree before the expiration of the probationary period.

The collective bargaining agreement contained a tenure provision stating that a teaching faculty member given a tenure track appointment upon hiring who has rendered six consecutive semesters of satisfactory full-time service carrying a fifteen-unit load or more is a tenured faculty member. It added that although a Master's degree is an entry requirement, a faculty member admitted to serve without one shall finish the degree in five semesters, and that if he is made to serve the University further in spite of the lack of a Master's degree, he shall be deemed to have attained tenure. The petitioners did not possess the required Master's degree. They enrolled in the Master's program but did not finish it, and they continued to teach beyond the period given for completion.

In March 2010 the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education issued a Memorandum directing the strict implementation of the minimum qualification for faculty members of undergraduate programs, particularly the Master's degree and licensure requirements. Acting on it, the University informed the affected faculty members that it would cease re-appointing those who failed to complete their Master's degrees, but allowed a written appeal from those due for thesis defense or completion. The petitioners did not file a written appeal, believing they had already been vested with tenure under the collective bargaining agreement. In June 2010 they received termination letters signed by the Dean, stating as the reason their failure to obtain the required Master's degree. They then filed the labor complaint.

Issues

• Whether or not the petitioners acquired tenure by default under the tenure provision of the collective bargaining agreement.
• Whether or not the collective bargaining agreement prevails over the administrative regulation prescribing a Master's degree as a minimum qualification for undergraduate faculty.
• Whether or not the petitioners were illegally dismissed, and whether or not they were denied due process.

Applicable Provisions

The tenure provision of the collective bargaining agreement provides:

Section 1. Tenured Faculty Member. He is: Teaching Faculty member, given a tenure track appointment upon hiring who has rendered six (6) consecutive semesters of satisfactory service on a full-time basis, carrying fifteen-unit load (15) or more. Although a master's degree is an entry requirement, a faculty member admitted to serve the University without a master's degree shall finish his master's degree in five (5) semesters. If he does not finish his degree in five (5) semesters, he shall be separated from service at the end of the fifth semester; however, if he is made to serve the University further, in spite of the lack of a master's degree, he shall be deemed to have attained tenure.

This is the clause the petitioners invoke, and the clause the Court refuses to enforce because it conflicts with the governing regulation.

The Manual of Regulations for Private Higher Education provides:

Section 35. Minimum Faculty Qualifications. The minimum qualifications of a faculty in a higher education institution shall be as follows: 1. For undergraduate program Holder of a master's degree; to teach mainly in his major field and where applicable, a holder of appropriate professional license requiring at least a bachelor's degree for the professional courses. However, in specific fields where there is dearth of holders of Master's degree, or a holder of a professional license requiring at least a bachelor's degree may be qualified to teach. Any deviation from this requirement will be subject to regulation by the Commission.

This fixes the Master's degree as the minimum qualification, and it is the standard against which the tenure by default clause is measured and struck down.

The Labor Code provision on probationary employment, as invoked by the University, provides:

Article 281. Probationary employment. Probationary employment shall not exceed six (6) months from the date the employee started working, unless it is covered by an apprenticeship agreement stipulating a longer period. The services of an employee who has been engaged on a probationary basis may be terminated for a just cause or when he fails to qualify as a regular employee in accordance with reasonable standards made known by the employer to the employee at the time of his engagement. An employee who is allowed to work after a probationary period shall be considered a regular employee.

This is the standard for terminating a probationary teacher who fails to qualify under standards made known at the time of engagement.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that no tenure by default ever vested. The petitioners remained probationary teachers because they never complied with the prerequisite for permanent status, which was the Master's degree. The Court stressed that they had been given more than ample opportunities to obtain the degree since their first appointments, and did not take advantage of them. Mere repeated renewal of a probationary appointment does not convert it into tenure when the qualifying standard has not been met.

On the second issue, the Court held that the collective bargaining agreement must yield. As early as 1992 the Master's degree requirement had been in place through the Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools, promulgated by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports in the exercise of its rule-making power under the Education Act of 1982, and as such it has the force and effect of law. When the parties executed the collective bargaining agreement, they had no right to include a tenure by default clause, because it was contrary to the Manual then already in effect. The Court quoted the rule that a stipulation in a collective bargaining agreement must yield to the statute:

It is a fundamental postulate that however broad the freedom of contracting parties may be, it does not go so far as to countenance disrespect for or failure to observe a legal prescription. The statute takes precedence; a stipulation in a collective bargaining agreement must yield to it. That is to adhere to the rule of law.

The Court added that an existing law enters into and forms part of a valid contract without need of express reference, and that the operation of educational institutions involves public interest, so the government may require postgraduate degrees as a prerequisite to employment. It also invoked academic freedom and management prerogative: the school's prerogative to set standards for its teachers and to determine whether those standards have been met is protected, and as long as the standards are reasonable and not arbitrary, courts will not set them aside.

On the third issue, the Court held that the termination was valid and legal, being grounded on the petitioners' failure to obtain the required degree, a standard made known to them at the time of engagement. Their refusal to file the written appeal did not make the dismissal illegal, since the appeal was a mere opportunity and not the source of any right.

Doctrine

A collective bargaining agreement is the law between the parties, but it is not superior to law. A stipulation that violates a statute or an administrative regulation having the force and effect of law produces no effect and cannot be the source of a vested right. The minimum qualification of a Master's degree for undergraduate faculty, fixed by the Manual of Regulations for Private Schools and the Manual of Regulations for Private Higher Education, is mandatory and may not be waived by agreement between the school and its faculty. A probationary teacher acquires tenure only upon compliance with the reasonable standards made known at the time of engagement; continued service despite non-compliance does not vest tenure where the agreement purporting to grant it is void. The school's authority to set and apply faculty standards is an exercise of academic freedom and management prerogative, which courts will not disturb absent arbitrariness.

Disposition

The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the Court of Appeals, holding that the petitioners were validly terminated and that the University won.

Remember This

Memorize this line: a collective bargaining agreement must yield to the statute, and a tenure by default clause contrary to the minimum faculty qualification requirement is void and vests nothing. Examiners use this case to test the hierarchy of a union contract against administrative regulations having the force of law, and to test when a probationary teacher actually acquires tenure.