'Neither are your ways my ways': Pregnancy and immorality in the workplace

Should a teacher working for a Christian educational institution be disciplined for engaging in a pre-marital relationship with her boyfriend that led to her pregnancy? This was the question brought before the Supreme Court in Bohol Wisdom School et al. v. Mabao, G.R. No. 252124, July 23, 2024.

- LANCE RYAN J. VILLAROSA

Bohol Wisdom School (BWS), a Christian school, hired Miraflor Mabao as a grade school teacher on June 7, 2007. On Sept. 21, 2016, Mabao informed the grade school principal that she was two months pregnant with her boyfriend. The following day, the school principal verbally suspended her and told her not to report to her classes until she could present documents showing that she was already married to the father of her child.

To BWS, Mabao's suspension was not illegal as it was an exercise of its management prerogative in keeping with their standard of morality. Considering that there is no absolute standard of morality, the standard must be based on the surrounding circumstances where the questioned action takes place. In this case, Mabao, as a teacher in a Christian educational institution, was obliged to teach and exemplify Christian values.

However, the Supreme Court disagreed with BWS and ruled that Mabao was illegally suspended. In the eyes of the law, the standard of morality that binds all those who come before it is public and secular, not religious (Capin-Cadiz v. Brent Hospital and Colleges, Inc. G.R. No. 187417, Feb. 24, 2016).

Jurisprudence has already defined public and secular morality as conduct proscribed because they are detrimental to conditions upon which depend the existence and progress of society (Leus v. St.

Scholastica's College Westgrove, G.R. No. 187226, Jan. 28, 2015).