Saturday, November 25, 2006 Position of trust and confidence By Dominador A. Almirante Labor case digest
Petitioner Vicente C. Etcuban Jr. was employed by respondent Sulpicio Lines Inc. as chief purser of its MV Surigao Princess.
In a surprise inspection, it was discovered that several yellow passenger’s duplicate of yet to-be-sold or unissued passage tickets already contained the amount of P88, the fare for adult passengers for the Cagayan de Oro to Jagna, Bohol route. It was noticed that three other original copies which made up the full set did not bear the same impression. Consequently, petitioner was dismissed from the service for loss of trust and confidence. Was the dismissal justified?
Ruling: Yes.
In the present case, the petitioner is not an ordinary rank-and-file employee.
The petitioner’s work is of such nature as to require a substantial amount of trust and confidence on the part of the employer. Being the chief purser, he occupied a highly sensitive and critical position and may thus be dismissed on the ground of loss of trust and confidence.
One of the many duties of the petitioner included the preparation and filling up passage tickets, and indicating the amounts therein before being given to the passengers. More importantly, he handled the personnel funds of the MV Surigao Princess.
Clearly, the petitioner’s position involves a high degree of responsibility requiring trust and confidence. The position carried with it the duty to observe proper company procedures in the fulfillment of his job, as it relates closely to the financial interests of the company. (Vicente C. Etcuban Jr. versus Sulpicio Lines Inc., G.R. No. 148410, Jan. 17, 2005).
