G.R. No. 152318 http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/april2009/152318.htm examinations passed by Philippine nationals pursuant to this Arrangement are recognized in accordance with their respective standards and that the persons concerned are afforded such opportunities with regard to careers, appointments and advancement as are commensurate with their [4] training. In the arraignment, both governments likewise named their respective implementing organizations for SHINE. The Philippines designated the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) with the implementation of SHINE. For their part, the German government charge[d] the Deustche Gesellschaft fr Technische [5] [6] [7] Zusammenarbeit[ ] (GTZ[ ]) GmbH, Eschborn, with the implementation of its contributions. Private respondents were engaged as contract employees hired by GTZ to work for SHINE on various dates between December of 1998 to September of 1999. Bernadette Carmela Magtaas [8] was hired as an information systems manager and project officer of SHINE; Carolina Dionco as a Project Assistant of SHINE; [9] Christopher Ramos as a project assistant and liason personnel of [10] Melvin Dela Paz and Randy Tamayo as NHI related SHINE activities by GTZ; programmers; [11] [12] and Edgardo Ramilo as driver, messenger and multipurpose service man. The employment contracts of all six private respondents all specified Dr. Rainer Tollkotter, identified as an adviser of GTZ, as the employer. At the same time, all the contracts commonly provided that [i]t is mutually agreed and understood that [Dr. Tollkotter, as employer] is a seconded GTZ expert who is hiring the Employee on behalf of GTZ and for a Philippine-German bilateral project named Social Health InsuranceNetworking and Empowerment (SHINE) which will end at a given time. [13] In September of 1999, Anne Nicolay (Nicolay), a Belgian national, assumed the post of SHINE Project Manager. Disagreements eventually arose between Nicolay and private respondents in matters such as proposed salary adjustments, and the course Nicolay was taking in the [14] implementation of SHINE different from her predecessors. The dispute culminated in a letter dated 8 June 2000, signed by the private respondents, addressed to Nicolay, and copies furnished officials of the DOH, Philheath, and the director of the Manila office of GTZ. The letter raised several issues which private respondents claim had been brought up several times in the past, but have not been given appropriate response. It was claimed that SHINE under Nicolay had veered away from its original purpose to facilitate the development of social health insurance by shoring up the national health insurance program and strengthening local initiatives, as Nicolay had refused to support local partners and new initiatives on the premise that community and local government unit schemes were not sustainablea philosophy that supposedly betrayed Nicolays lack of understanding 4 of 19 1/26/2016 4:07 PM