G.R. No. 144899 ; February 5, 2004
ELIZABETH C. BASCON and NOEMI V. COLE, petitioners vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, METRO CEBU COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, INC., and GREGORIO IYOY, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioners Bascon and Cole were employees of Metro Cebu Community Hospital (MCCH) and members of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa MCCH (NAMA-MCCH). An intra-union conflict arose when NAMA-MCCH sought to renew its Collective Bargaining Agreement, but its mother federation, the National Labor Federation, opposed it. MCCH deferred negotiations. Believing they were the certified bargaining agent, NAMA-MCCH members staged mass actions inside the hospital premises starting February 1996, involving marches, streamers, and placards. The Department of Labor and Employment later certified that NAMA-MCCH was not a registered labor organization. MCCH served notices to petitioners and other union members, asking them to explain their participation in wearing ribbons and displaying placards. Petitioners collectively responded that these acts were a response to MCCH’s refusal to negotiate. Following subsequent notices for investigation and an order to desist—which petitioners claimed not to have received—MCCH terminated petitioners’ employment in April 1996 for allegedly participating in an illegal strike.

ISSUE

Whether petitioners were illegally dismissed.

RULING

Yes, the Supreme Court ruled that petitioners were illegally dismissed. The Court found that the mass actions, which involved wearing union armbands and peacefully displaying placards, constituted a valid exercise of the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, not an illegal strike. Critically, the Court held that for a strike to be considered illegal under Article 264 of the Labor Code, there must be a concerted stoppage of work or a refusal to perform work. The petitioners’ activities did not involve a work stoppage; they continued to perform their nursing duties while wearing armbands for union identity. The Court emphasized that the mere act of wearing union insignia during work, without more, is not a strike. Furthermore, the Court found that MCCH failed to substantiate its claim that petitioners participated in the more egregious, later acts of blocking ingress/egress or harassing patients. The dismissal was therefore not based on a just or authorized cause. The Court ordered reinstatement with full backwages, rejecting MCCH’s claim of strained relations, noting the doctrine must be strictly applied and was inapplicable as petitioners, a nurse and a nursing aide, had no managerial say in hospital operations.