Case Digest (G.R. No. 184933)
Facts:
Violeta Balba, For and in Behalf of Her Minor Children Roy Vince and Vienna Gracia, Both Surnamed Balba v. Tiwala Human Resources, Inc., and/or Togo Maritime Corp., G.R. No. 184933, April 13, 2016, Supreme Court Third Division, Reyes, J., writing for the Court.The petitioners are the legal heirs of the late Rogelio Balba—his wife Violeta Balba and two minor children, Roy Vince and Vienna Gracia—who substituted Rogelio as complainant after his death; the respondents are Tiwala Human Resources, Inc. and/or Togo Maritime Corporation, Rogelio's manning agency and foreign principal, respectively. Rogelio was hired under a ten‑month contract as chief cook on board the M/V Giga Trans and boarded on November 13, 1998 after a fit‑for‑work pre‑employment examination; his contract expired and he was repatriated in October 1999.
After repatriation Rogelio consulted Dr. Benito Dungo between October and November 1999 for weakness and numbness and was later diagnosed with moderately severe diabetes; in 2000 he was confined at the Seamen’s Hospital and found to have metastatic cancer. Rogelio sought disability and death benefits from the respondents but was denied and thus filed a complaint for disability benefits with damages and attorney’s fees on April 6, 2000; he was admitted at the Philippine General Hospital on April 28, 2000 and died in July 2000. His wife and children were substituted as complainants when his complaint continued posthumously.
Before the labor tribunals, the Labor Arbiter dismissed the complaint in a Decision dated September 25, 2002 finding the death noncompensable under the POEA Standard Employment Contract (POEA‑SEC). The petitioners appealed to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), which in a Decision dated December 28, 2004 reversed and ordered respondents to pay US$60,000 (death benefit) plus US$7,000 each for the two children and US$1,000 burial allowance (total US$75,000), and denied reconsideration in a Resolution dated December 22, 2005. The respondents filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals (CA), which granted the petition in a Decision dated May 31, 2007 and set aside the NLRC award for lack of proof linking Rogelio’s cancer to his work; the CA denied the petitioners’ motion for recons...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Whether or not the Court of Appeals committed grave abuse of discretion in granting respondents’ petition for certiorari and denying petitioners’ motion for reconsideration by reversing and setting aside the NLRC decision awarding death benefits und...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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