Employer bears burden of proof to show just cause for dismissal of employee

The employer has the burden of proving that the dismissal of an employee is for a just cause. In an attempt to discharge this burden, petitioners have merely presented, by way of annexes to their position paper before the POEA and reply to private respondent's position paper, copies of log book abstracts. In Abacast Shipping, the Court has ruled that entries in the ship's log book are prima facie evidence of the incident only if the log book itself containing such entries or photocopies of the pertinent pages thereof are presented in evidence. [G.R. No. 105396. November 19, 1996]