The Teacher-Student relationship Case

CHUA QUA vs. CLAVE CASE

In 1976, a teacher married her student and got fired. :)
This case was about an affair and marriage of 30 years old teacher Evelyn Chua in Tay
Tung High School in Bacolod City to her 16 years old student, Mr. Bobby Qua. The
petitioner teacher was suspended without pay and was terminated of his employment
for Abusive and Unethical Conduct Unbecoming of a Dignified School Teacher which
was filed by a public respondent as a ground for her termination.
This would have been just another illegal dismissal case were it not for the controversial
and unique situation that the marriage of Evelyn Chua, then a classroom teacher, to her
student who was fourteen (14) years her junior, was considered by the school
authorities as sufficient basis for terminating her services. The case went on to the
Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Evelyn.
The Supreme Court declared the dismissal illegal saying:
.....[the school] utterly failed to show that petitioner [30-year old lady teacher] took
advantage of her position to court her student [16-year old]. If the two eventually fell in
love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance
to the truism that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know. But,
definitely, yielding to this gentle and universal emotion is not to be so casually equated
with immorality. The deviation of the circumstances of their marriage from the usual
societal pattern cannot be considered as a defiance of contemporary social mores.
This is a truly remarkable case wherein the Supreme Court ruled in favor of love.

Private respondent [the school] utterly failed to show that petitioner [30-year old lady
teacher] took advantage of her position to court her student [16-year old]. If the two
eventually fell in love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only
lends substance to the truism that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does
not know. But, definitely, yielding to this gentle and universal emotion is not to be so
casually equated with immorality. The deviation of the circumstances of their marriage
from the usual societal pattern cannot be considered as a defiance of contemporary
social mores. (Chua-Qua vs. Clave, G.R. No. L-49549, 30 August 1990).