G.R. No. 167627; October 10, 2008
AGUSAN DEL NORTE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. and HORACIO T. SANTOS, petitioners, vs. JOEL CAGAMPANG and GLENN GARZON, respondents.

FACTS

Respondents Joel Cagampang and Glenn Garzon started working as linemen for petitioner Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ANECO) on October 1, 1990, under an employment contract for a period not exceeding three months. After the contract expired, they were laid off for short periods and then ordered to report back to work on the basis of job orders. Their contracts were renewed several times for similar periods of about three months each, eventually expiring on April 31, 1998, and July 30, 1999, after which they were no longer renewed. On January 11, 2001, respondents filed an illegal dismissal case. The Labor Arbiter declared the dismissal illegal and awarded money claims. The NLRC set aside the Labor Arbiter’s decision, except for the grant of service incentive leave pay, attorney’s fees, and a salary differential. The Court of Appeals reversed the NLRC and reinstated the Labor Arbiter’s decision.

ISSUE

Whether the respondents were illegally dismissed.

RULING

Yes, the respondents were illegally dismissed. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals decision. The respondents, having worked as linemen for ANECO for at least one year, performed work that was necessary and desirable to ANECO’s usual business, making them regular employees. The repeated renewals of their contracts over many years indicated that their work was vital and indispensable, not merely project-based. As regular employees, their termination required just cause and due process. ANECO failed to prove a just cause for termination and did not issue the required twin notices, making the dismissal illegal. The employer bears the burden of proving the legality of a dismissal, and ANECO’s mere refusal to renew the contracts for regular work, without justifiable reason, fell short of this requirement.