6/8/2020
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
328 Phil. 72
FIRST DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 74495, July 11, 1996 ]
DUMEZ COMPANY AND TRANS-ORIENT ENGINEERS, INC.,
PETITIONERS, VS. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION
AND VERONICO EBILANE, RESPONDENTS.
DECISION
HERMOSISIMA, JR., J.:
Before us is a petition for certiorari
assailing the Decision[1] of the National Labor
Relations Commission (hereafter, NLRC)[2] in an illegal dismissal case[3] involving an
overseas contract worker who contracted a debilitating illness while rendering services
under a subsisting job contract in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The assailed Decision affirmed
the award[4] by the Workers' Assistance and Adjudication Office of the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration (hereafter POEA) in favor of private respondent in
the amount of U.S.$1,110.00 or its peso equivalent as and for his medical
compensation benefits.
The facts of the case are not in dispute:
On May 21, 1982, petitioner Dumez Company, a French company, through petitioner
Trans-Orient Engineers, Inc., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the
Philippines, engaged the services of private respondent Veronico Ebilane as carpenter
for one of its projects in the Middle East, with Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as his place of
actual employment. The parties executed and signed a one-year overseas employment
agreement embodying the terms and conditions of private respondent's employment.
Private respondent commenced performance of said contract on July 3, 1982. On
August 31, 1982, while at the job site, private respondent was suddenly seized by
abdominal pain and rushed to the Riyadh Central Hospital were appendectomy was
performed on him. During his confinement, he developed right-sided weakness and
numbness and difficulty of speaking which was found to have been caused by Atrial
Fibrillation and CVA embolism.
In a letter dated September 22, 1982, petitioners formally terminated private
respondent's employment effective September 29, 1982, up to which time petitioners
paid private respondent his salaries under his employment contract. Thereafter, on
October 13, 1982, private respondent was repatriated to Manila.
On November 23, 1982, private respondent filed a complaint for illegal dismissal
against petitioners. Such complaint was filed with the Workers' Assistance and
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/33843
1/5