Case Digest - UE vs. Pepanio
Case Digest - UE vs. Pepanio
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UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST, DEAN
ELEANOR JAVIER, RONNIE
GILLEGO and DR. JOSE C.
BENEDICTO, petitioners, vs.
ANALIZA F. PEPANIO and MARITI
D. BUENO, respondents.
The Facts and the Case
In 1992, the Department of Education, Culture and
Sports (DECS) issued the Revised Manual of
Regulations for Private Schools, 1 Article IX, Section 44,
paragraph 1 (a), of which requires college faculty
members to have a master's degree as a minimum
educational qualification for acquiring regular status. 2
In 1994 petitioner University of the East (UE) and the UE
Faculty Association executed a five-year Collective
Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with effect up to 1999
which provided, among others, that UE shall extend only
semester-to-semester appointments to college faculty
staffs who did not possess the minimum qualifications.
Those with such qualifications shall be given
probationary appointments and their performance on a
full-time or full-load basis shall be reviewed for four
semesters. 3
Meantime, on February 7, 1996 several concerned
government agencies issued DECS-CHED-TESDADOLE Joint Order 1 4 which reiterated the policy
embodied in the Manual of Regulations that "teaching or
academic personnel who do not meet the minimum
academic qualifications shall not acquire tenure or
regular status." In consonance with this, the UE
President issued a University Policy stating that,
beginning the School Year 1996-1997, it would hire
those who have no postgraduate units or master's
degree for its college teaching staffs, in the absence of
qualified applicants, only on a semester-to-semester
basis. CcaDHT
UE hired respondent Mariti D. Bueno in 1997 5 and
respondent Analiza F. Pepanio in 2000, 6 both on a
semester-to-semester basis to teach in its college. They
could not qualify for probationary or regular status
because they lacked postgraduate degrees. Bueno
enrolled in six postgraduate subjects at the Philippine
Normal University's graduate school but there is no
evidence that she finished her course. Pepanio earned
27 units in her graduate studies at the Gregorio Araneta
University Foundation but these could no longer be
credited to her because she failed to continue with her
studies within five years.
In 2001 UE and the UE Faculty Association entered into
a new CBA 7 that would have the school extend
probationary full-time appointments to full-time faculty