1) LACK OF DISCIPLINE – HE RESENTED DISCIPLINE. HE IS
SEEN BY SUPT. ENGRS. ON SEVERAL OCCASION DURING WORKING
HOURS STAYING ON PORTSIDE DECK SMOKING AND HAVING
SNACKS. MANY TIMES HE IS INSIDE THE GALLEY CHATTING WITH
CHIEF COOK DURING WORKING HOURS AND HAVING SNACKS. HE
TENDS TO BE FREQUENTLY LATE FOR DUTY/WORK AND IS
GENERALLY UNRELIABLE.
2) IRRESPONSIBLE - HE HAS NOT SHOWN A HIGH SENSE OF
RESPONSIBILITY AS 3/ENGR. HE IS CAREFREE IN DISCHARGING HIS
DUTIES IN MAINTAINING THE ASSIGNED MACHINERIES, SUCH AS
BOILER, DIESEL GENERATORS, STARTING AIR COMPRESSORS AND
VARIOUS PUMPS. HE CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO DO HIS JOB UNLESS
SUPERVISED PERPETUALLY.
3) LACK OF DILIGENCE - HE REQUIRES CONSTANT PUSHING
AND HAS TO BE WATCHED MOST OF THE TIME. LACK OF
INITIATIVE REGARDLESS OF CONSTANT MOTIVATION.
SGD. JEROME A. RETARDO
CHIEF ENGR[9]
According to petitioner, the foregoing Report established that respondent
was dismissed for just cause. The CA, the NLRC, and the Labor Arbiter, however,
refused to give credence to the Report. They are one in ruling that the Report
cannot be given any probative value as it is uncorroborated by other evidence and
that it is merely hearsay, having come from a source, the Chief Engineer, who did
not have any personal knowledge of the events reported therein.
The Labor Arbiter ruled that the charges against respondent are bare
allegations, unsupported by corroborating evidence. The Labor Arbiter stated that
if respondent indeed committed the alleged infractions, then these should have, at
the very least, been entered into the seaman’s book, or that a copy of the vessel’s
logbook presented to prove the same.[10] The Labor Arbiter’s findings were
sustained by the NLRC.[11]
The CA upheld these findings, succinctly stating as follows: