6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Based on the foregoing provisions, the Contract of Employment may be terminated by either party for cause or at any time for no cause, as long as a three-month notice is given to the other party. In the latter case, respondent shall still be fully engaged and entitled to her salary and allowances for the three-month period provided in the notice of termination. The Contract of Employment signed by respondent is first and foremost a contract, which has the force of law between the parties as long as its stipulations are not contrary to law, morals, public order, or public policy. We had occasion to rule that stipulations providing that either party may terminate a contract even without cause are legitimate if exercised in good faith.[86] Thus, while either party has the right to terminate the contract at will, it cannot not act purposely to injure the other.[87] There is no need to delve on the attempted demotion of respondent for the reason that she did not have a master's degree. We are more inclined to believe that the matter regarding respondent's master's degree or her lack thereof was a result of a mere misunderstanding. While respondent may be fully justified in claiming that she has a master's degree by virtue of her law degree here in the Philippines, it is clearly not the master's degree that the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia required. This matter was not clarified when the representative of the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia evaluated her qualifications prior to her deployment, and it only became apparent upon her arrival in Ethiopia. Thus, the misunderstanding was not the result of bad faith on the part of either party. It is for this reason that their acts regarding the matter should not be taken against either one of them. In any case, the demotion did not materialize, and respondent maintained her salary and benefits until she was repatriated. Neither can we impute bad faith on the part of Alemaya University in the exercise of its right to terminate the Contract of Employment at will for several reasons. First, we regard the alleged statements of Vice President Alamirew during the meeting on 27 March 2006 as an isolated personal incident that had nothing to do with the termination of respondent's employment. Vice President Alamirew later apologized to respondent for the blunder and confessed it was because she thought respondent led the group protest before the Ministry of Education. Second, while it was Vice President Alamirew who eventually issued the notice of termination, the ground cited therein was respondent's supposed failure to handle her teaching load effectively. Respondent had previously caused some inconvenience to the management of Alemaya University when she decided to discontinue teaching the course assigned to her and spent the rest of the semester without any teaching load but still with pay. It also alluded to her tendency to insult students, staff, management and Ethiopians in general. Third, respondent never denied the grounds cited in the notice of termination. In fact, in her letter dated 31 March 2006 addressed to Mr. Keno, she affirmed that the students "told [her] bluntly that they do not want [her] style [of teaching]."[88] In the exercise of the right to terminate a contract without cause, one party need only elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/60760 10/20