(c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his
employer or duly authorized representative;
(d) Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of
his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly
authorized representative; and
(e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.
In the case before this Court, the ground relied upon by the petitioners in
dismissing the respondents is incompetence. Although incompetence or
inefficiency as a ground for a valid dismissal is not expressly written in Article 282
as one of the just causes in dismissing an employee, this ground is considered as
analogous to those enumerated under said article. Additionally, incompetence is a
ground specifically provided for in Section H of the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA) Standard Employment Contract[32] to validly
dismiss an erring seaman. Such incompetence or inefficiency is understood to
mean failure to attain work goals or work quotas, either by failing to complete the
same within the allotted reasonable period, or by producing unsatisfactory results.
[33]
In proving the alleged incompetence of the respondents, the Labor Arbiter as
well as the NLRC, based their findings on the telefax message,[34] logbook extracts,
and the Master’s Statement Report.
While going over the records of the case, this Court finds that the logbook
extracts presented by the petitioners before the administrative bodies failed to
specify the particular acts or omissions of the respondents which apparently
displayed their alleged incompetence. Such details are vital in proving whether the
respondents are indeed incompetent to perform their assigned duties and
responsibilities. While the logbook extracts presented by the petitioners dated 22
July 1998,[35] mentioned that respondent Maguadwas inexperienced because he did
not operate E/R Machines satisfactorily, it did not particularly described therein the
manner howMaguad operated the machine that would lead to the conclusion that
he was inexperienced. With regard to respondent Ciudadano, his alleged
incompetence was stated in the logbook extracts dated 24 July 1998,[36] that he was
unable to perform safety duties in spite of advices given to him. Again, his alleged
incompetence was not specifically stated. Since a logbook contains entries of the
daily events in the vessel, it is irregular that the act of the respondents showing