Case Digest (G.R. No. 93003)
Facts:
Carmelita Reyes v. Employees Compensation Commission and Government Service Insurance System, G.R. No. 93003, March 03, 1992, First Division, Medialdea, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioner Carmelita Reyes claimed death benefits from respondents Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) as widow of Ernesto Reyes, a public school teacher who served in Batangas and Oriental Mindoro from 1967 until 1987. Ernesto was hospitalized from May 11 to May 19, 1987, and died on May 25, 1987; his death certificate listed “aplastic anemia, complications, genito-urinary tract infection, acute renal failure, acute pulmonary insufficiency” as causes.
Petitioner filed a claim under P.D. No. 626, as amended; the GSIS denied death benefits on July 28, 1987 on the ground that the cause of death was not an occupational disease nor shown to be work-related, and it denied reconsideration. Petitioner then appealed to the ECC. New evidence — a chest x-ray dated March 6, 1987 — showed pulmonary tuberculosis; the ECC remanded the records to GSIS, recommending that if radiologic interpretation was positive for pulmonary tuberculosis the case could be compensable because pulmonary tuberculosis could have contributed to pulmonary insufficiency, a listed cause of death.
On remand the GSIS’s radiological re-evaluation reported “minimal PTB, right lower lobe” and awarded only nine months’ permanent partial disability from March 6, 1987. Petitioner sought reconsideration and again appealed to the ECC (docketed ECC No. 4855). In its January 17, 1990 decision the ECC affirmed the GSIS, holding that the primary cause of death — aplastic anemia — is ordinarily attributable to exposure to certain chemical and physical agents (e.g., benzene, arsenic, radium, x-rays) and that, because a teacher’s work environment showed minimal exposure to such agents, the disease was non-work-connected and not compensable.
Before the Court, petitioner argued that her husband’s work in remote barrios, daily walking through ricefields and plantations where pesticides were sprayed, and duties as an industrial-arts teacher exposed him to chemicals (thinner, varnish, pesticides) that increased his risk of developing aplastic anemia. She relied on an affidavit of a co-teacher supporting those assertions; that affidavit, however,...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- May petitioner rely on evidence (the co-teacher’s affidavit) presented for the first time to the Supreme Court so as to establish that the deceased’s disease was work-connected and thereby show grave abuse of discretion by respondents?
- Was the death of Ernesto Reyes work-connected and therefore compensable under ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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