5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly DEATH BENEFITS. II WHETHER THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED IN FAILING TO CONSIDER AND GIVE CREDENCE TO THE SEVERAL PIECES OF EVIDENCE AND CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH WOULD ALL CONCLUSIVELY POINT TO THE FACT THAT THE SEAMAN COMMITTED SUICIDE. III WHETHER THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED IN FAILING TO CONSIDER THAT NO PROOF WHATSOEVER WAS PRESENTED TO SHOW THAT THE DEATH OF THE SEAMAN IS RELATED IN ANY MANNER TO HIS WORK ON-BOARD THE VESSEL.[9] The main issue for resolution is whether Hernani committed suicide during the term of his employment contract which would exempt petitioners from paying Hernani's death compensation benefits to his beneficiaries. The petition is meritorious. Section 20 (D) of the POEA-SEC provides: No compensation and benefits shall be payable in respect of any injury, incapacity, disability or death of a seafarer resulting from his willful or criminal act or intentional breach of his duties x x x. The death of a seaman during the term of his employment makes the employer liable to the former's heirs for death compensation benefits.[10] This rule, however, is not absolute. The employer may be exempt from liability if it can successfully prove that the seaman's death was caused by an injury directly attributable to his deliberate or willful act.[11] Hence, respondents' entitlement to any death benefit depends on whether petitioners' evidence suffices to prove that Hernani committed suicide, and the burden of proof rests on his employer.[12] In the case at bar, the Italian Medical Examiner found that: During the necroscopic investigation, no other forms of injuries were noted on the body of Pedrajas and his viscera; this allows us to retain that Pedrajas suffered no physical violence before the hanging and that he hung himself, in order to commit suicide, of his own accord. The presence of flakes of white paint on the palms of both hands, the same as on the gangway, the banister and the pipe where the rope was fixed, is an element which goes to confirm - even if of lesser value - the theory that Pedrajas elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57383 3/9