Case Digest (G.R. No. L-38421)
Facts:
Social Security System v. Workmen's Compensation Commission and Leonora H. Latuno, G.R. No. L-38421, December 28, 1979, First Division, Fernandez, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioner Social Security System (SSS) sought review of the decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission (WCC) in WC Case No. RO4-136993, which affirmed the Acting Referee of Regional Office No. 4, Department of Labor, Manila, and ordered the SSS to pay respondent claimant Leonora H. Latuno disability compensation and administrative fees.
Latuno’s employment history: she entered government service in 1946 as a classroom teacher, later joined the Social Security System on March 3, 1959 as Clerk I and advanced to Supervisor of the Outgoing Mails Unit with an annual salary of P5,540.00. She suffered from arthritis beginning in 1967 that worsened in 1969; she stopped working on June 1, 1969 and wrote the SSS administrator requesting retirement due to illness.
Procedural history at the lower fora: on December 31, 1972, Latuno filed a claim for disability compensation with Regional Office No. 4, Department of Labor, Manila. The SSS submitted an employer’s report on January 24, 1973 and filed a motion to reinstate its right to controvert. The Acting Referee conducted hearings and rendered a decision ordering the SSS to pay Latuno P6,000.00 as disability compensation and P61.00 as administrative and decision fees. The SSS appealed to the WCC.
The WCC, by decision dated January 16, 1974, affirmed the Acting Referee’s findings and ordered the SSS to pay P6,000.00 pursuant to Sections 14 and 18 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act and to pay P66.00 to the Workmen’s Compensation Fund as administrative cost and fee for the review. The SSS brought the matter to the Supreme Court by a petition to review the WCC decision.
The WCC and the Acting Referee found on the medical evidence (including reports and testimony of Dr. Arturo Fajardo of the GSIS General Hospital) that Latuno suffered from osteo-arthritis that supervened and was aggravated during her employment, rendering her unable to continue work; the tribunals applied the statutory presumption of compensability where illness arises in the course of employment and held the employer did not overcome that p...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Is the claim for disability compensation time-barred under Section 24 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act?
- Did Leonora H. Latuno’s osteo-arthritis arise out of, or become compensable because it was aggravated by, her employment with the Socia...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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