were his refusal to take orders from his superior on January 6 and his leaving the vessel without
permission on January 13. When petitioner remained silent, the committee informed him that he
was dismissed. He was sent home that same day. Petitioner was not given reasonable time to
answer the charges hurled against him or to defend himself. The notice apprising him of the
charges and the notice of dismissal were done in one morning all in the January 14 committee
hearing. The submission that the entry in the logbook made on January 6 which stated that for
petitioners refusal to take orders from the master of the ship he will be sent home in first possible
port was sufficient compliance of the first notice requirement is not well-taken. This is not the
kind of notice that satisfies due process contemplated by law. In such a case where there is a
failure to comply with the requirements of the law as to the notice and hearing, the dismissal is
certainly tainted with illegality.
On the substantive issue, we find no just cause for petitioners dismissal. According to the POEA,
petitioner was found guilty for insubordination for his refusal to obey the order of the master to
prepare the victual statement on January 6, 1993,vi[6] which was presumably for the month of
January.
The NLRC, which simply adopted in toto the findings of the POEA, concluded that complainant
refused albeit in a bad manner the request of the Shipmaster to prepare a correct victualling cost
statement for the month of December.
Based on the POEA findings, petitioner was dismissed because of his refusal to prepare the
victualling statement for the month of January, 1993. The facts as found by the POEA are all
muddled up. The victualling cost statement for the month of January was not yet due when he
was asked to prepare the same on January 6 of that month. A victualling cost statement was
necessary to show the food expense incurred for the past month, not for the present month. Thus,
from the victualling statements submitted for the month of October, November and December,
1992, it can be seen that the period indicated therein began on the first day of each month and
ended on the last day of said month. This means that the report for October was made in
November, for November in December, and that for December in January. Such being the case,
petitioners refusal to prepare the victualling statement of January was justified since the
victualling cost for the month of January was not yet due or necessary.
On the other hand, the NLRCs conclusion that petitioner refused to correct the victualling
statement for the month of December as ordered to, was also not sufficient basis for his
dismissal. There is no doubt that petitioner had complied with his superiors orders to prepare the
statement for December. It was only the correction of the December statement that he requested
to defer which the Shipmaster took as a downright refusal to make and considered such act as a
serious and gross insubordination.
For willful disobedience to be considered as just cause for dismissal, the employees conduct
must be willful or intentional, the willfulness being characterized by a wrongful and perverse
attitude and the order violated must have been reasonable, lawful, made known to the employee
and must pertain to the duties which he has been engaged to discharge.vii[7]