Case Digest (G.R. No. 85024)
Facts:
Domingo Vicente v. Employees Compensation Commission, G.R. No. 85024, January 23, 1991, Supreme Court En Banc, Sarmiento, J., writing for the Court.The petitioner, Domingo Vicente, was a nursing attendant at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. On August 5, 1981, at age 45 and after more than twenty-five years of government service, he applied for optional retirement effective August 16, 1981 under Republic Act No. 1616, Section 12(c), citing physical disability, and simultaneously filed with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) an application for income benefits under Presidential Decree No. 626. His attending surgeon, Dr. Avelino A. Lopez, issued a Physician’s Certification diagnosing multiple osteoarthritis, hypertensive cardiovascular disease, cardiomegaly and left ventricular hypertrophy and classifying Vicente as under “permanent total disability.”
The GSIS granted the income-benefits claim only as compensation for permanent partial disability for a period of nineteen months running from August 16, 1981 to March 1983. On March 14, 1983 Vicente sought reconsideration and, based on the GSIS Medical Services Center’s Summary of Findings and Recommendation, was given an additional four months’ benefits. He again requested reclassification to permanent total disability by letter of November 6, 1986; the request was denied on June 30, 1987. Vicente sought further reconsideration, and on September 10, 1987 his appeal was elevated to the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC). He also notified the ECC that he had been confined from August 31 to September 6, 1987 for a probable left middle cerebral artery thrombosis.
On August 24, 1988 the ECC, in ECC Case No. 3764, affirmed the GSIS decision and dismissed Vicente’s appeal, maintaining the finding of permanent partial disability. Vicente then filed...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the petitioner suffer from permanent total disability entitling him to permanent total disability benefits, or only from permanent partial disability as the ECC...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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