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763 PHIL. 45
FIRST DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 189262, July 06, 2015 ]
GBMLT MANPOWER SERVICES, INC., PETITIONER, VS. MA.
VICTORIA H. MALINAO, RESPONDENT.
DECISION
SERENO, C.J.:
Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court
assailing the Court of Appeals (CA) Decision[1] dated 29 May 2009 and Resolution[2]
dated 24 August 2009 in CA-G.R. SP No. 107378.
The CA found grave abuse of discretion on the part of the National Labor Relations
Commission (NLRC) when the latter reversed the decision of the labor arbiter, which
granted respondent's money claims under her complaint for illegal dismissal against
petitioner. The CA Resolution denied petitioner's motion for reconsideration.
Facts
Sometime in May 2005, respondent applied to petitioner for a job as teacher for
deployment abroad.[3] She went through the usual application process and was later
called for an interview by the president of an Ethiopian university.[4] The interviewer
endorsed her for the post of accounting lecturer.[5] Petitioner issued her a wage
response slip,[6] which provided that she would receive a monthly salary of USD 900.
Respondent paid petitioner the processing and placement fees equivalent to her onemonth salary.[7] She also signed a Contract of Employment for Foreign Academic
Personnel[8] (Contract of Employment) covering a period of two academic years. The
contract had been approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA).
On 12 December 2005, respondent departed for Ethiopia. Upon her arrival, she was
informed by the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education that her credentials would
have to be re-evaluated, because it appeared that she did not have a master's degree.
[9] Respondent was given a new contract for signing, which at first she refused to sign.
However, upon reading that it was a duplicate of the original contract, she affixed her
signature.[10]
Respondent was assigned to teach at the Alemaya University.[11] On 10 January 2006,
she unilaterally decided to discontinue teaching the course in cooperative accounting
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