In 2008, the CHED, in order to promote quality education, issued the Manual of

Regulations for Private Higher Education (MORPHE). This maintained the 1992 DECS-
issued Manual requiring that teachers in undergraduate programs in private higher
education institutions must hold a master’s degree as a minimum academic requirement
to be regularized. Those who do not possess the minimum academic requirements are
considered as part-time and can be terminated when a qualified instructor becomes
available.

The Supreme Court upheld the reasonableness of the requirement in at least two cases
namely the Pepanio and the Manaois Cases. The main thrust of the rulings was that the
teaching profession is imbued with public interest and the State has, therefore, a right to
interfere and set reasonable standards. The same ruling was upheld in the 2018 case of
Son v. UST and Fernandez v. SLU, which involved teachers who were expressly
conferred regular status. Regular status was revoked and the teachers were terminated,
holding that they never attained regular status due to the failure to acquire a master’s
degree.

The CHED MORPHE creates another class of employees, the part-time-full-load

employees who cannot acquire tenure contrary to the Labor Code and the Constitutional
mandate of security of tenure, or the freedom from arbitrary dismissal. The study
distinguishes the part-time-full-load teachers from those part-time teachers who carry
less than regular teaching load. As used in this study, part-time-full-load teachers are
those who comply with all the minimum requirements setout in the CHED MORPHE
except the completion of a master’s degree. Part-time-full-load employees should have
the right to be regularized, as they should be considered as employees on a fixed-term
who under various Supreme Court cases, can acquire regular status because of their
continued re-hiring.

The holding of regular status does not mean perpetual employment. The school, in order
to comply with the CHED MORPHE, should require the teacher to attain a master’s
degree within three years, which is the maximum period of probation under the CHED
MORPHE. The failure to complete a master’s degree would warrant dismissal under
analogous circumstances under Art. 297 of the Labor Code. In this way, the CHED
MORPHE is effectively upheld while maintaining the right of the teachers to
regularization.