SC reinstates dismissal of RTVM cameraman for 'unsolicited' touching of colleague's knee

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court reinstated the dismissal government cameraman over a misconduct case for his unsolicited touching of the knee of his colleague.

The Second Division of the SC reinstated the Civil Service Commission’s earlier ruling that upheld the dismissal from service and disqualification from reemployment in government service of a cameraman of the Radio Television Malacañang.

The case stemmed from an administrative complaint filed by an employee of the RTVM who said she was sitting on the sofa at the Engineering Office when the cameraman sat beside her and “tickled her right knee much to her shock and humiliation.” Instead of apologizing, the cameraman “taunted her, and with a smirk told her ‘Oh, umiyak ka daw.’”

In reinstating the ruling on the cameraman’s dismissal, the SC held: “Unsolicited physical contact, even if done in jest, has no place in the workplace, especially in the government service.”

Associate Justice Henri Paul Inting wrote the ruling dated February 28, but was uploaded on the SC website only this week.

Concurring are Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, now retired-Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., Associate Justices Ramon Paul Hernando and Edgardo delos Santos.

The incident

A fact-finding committee was formed to look into the incident and found the cameraman guilty of misconduct, which was his second offense, and was dismissed from service.

The cameraman elevated the case to the Civil Service Commission and argued that the penalty of dismissal was “too harsh considering the presence of mitigating circumstances such as length of service and good faith.”

He also elevated his case to Court of Appeals that “reduced and mitigated” the penalty to six months suspension from dismissal citing that the offense was “not beyond rectification, the triviality of the complained offense, and the length of his service with the government which dates back from 1987.”

The RTVM raised the case to the Supreme Court, and was represented by the Office of the Solicitor General. They argued that the cameraman did not show remorse after his “lewd behavior.” His length of service, meanwhile, should be treated as an aggravating circumstance since “his seniority apparently emboldened him to commit unsolicited advances,” the OSG said.

The court’s ruling

In reinstating the dismissal penalty, the SC acknowledged that light-hearted banter may have positive effects in the working environment, but teasing “may not always be perceived favorably.”

“The way a person views a joke may differ depending on the situation and on how one perceives a tease—a teaser’s intentions and his/her overall interaction with the teaser,” it said.

“Insensitive jokes or actions could border on harassment, due to the fact that targets may be unaware of the teaser’s intentions. Therefore, for the protection of all employees, a line has to be drawn before an innocent action becomes a full-blown harassment,” the ruling read.

On the case at hand, the SC stressed that the touching of the knee was a “clearly clearly unsolicited and uncalled for,” and the cameraman has no right to do so.

“Even if the act was done without malice, it is beyond all bounds of decency and decorum for a person to touch any body part of another without consent for that matter,” the high court also said.

The SC also sided with the OSG and said that the length of service in this case, is not a mitigating circumstance since it emboldened him to commit unsolicited advances.