4/14/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly [19] Id. [20] Id. at 9. [21] Id. [22] Id. at 13-14. [23] Id. at 20. [24] Id. at 17. [25] Id. [26] Id. [27] Id. [28] Id. at 21-22. [29] CONST., Art. XIII, sec. 3 partly provides: Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION ZALAMEDA, J.: [W]henever the questions of discipline, or of faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law have been decided by the highest of these church judicatories to which the matter has been carried, the legal tribunals must accept such decisions as final, and as binding on them, in their application to the case before them.[1] I agree with the ponencia which reinstated the ruling of the National Labor Relations Commission and declared that "being an instructor of [Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary (MBIS)] was part of [Ricardo Villaflor, Jr.'s (Villaflor)] mission work as a missionary/minister of [Abiko Baptist Church (ABC)]." Villaflor's "removal as a missionary of [ABC] is different from his status as an instructor of MBIS." Villaflor failed to prove that he was an employee of ABC and MBIS; hence, there can be no finding of illegal dismissal. The clash between ABC's right to exercise its religious freedom in the choice of its members and Villaflor's property rights to income and abode was more apparent than real. https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66079 15/24