5/28/2020
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
On August 19, 2007 or during the pendency of the case, Dovee Yap died of “Multiple
Organ Failure Secondary To Pulmonary Squamous Cell CA With Distant Metastasis
(Brain and Bone) And Obstructive Pneumonia Secondary To Electrolyte Imbalance
Secondary To Gastric Ulcer Secondary To S/P Radio Therapy.” His widow, Remedios O.
Yap, substituted him as party-complainant and the claim for disability benefits was then
converted into a claim for death benefits.[11]
On February 28, 2008, the Labor Arbiter dismissed the Complaint for lack of merit in
the following manner:
Be that as it may, it is clear that Dovee M. Yap did not die due to an illness
which is the consequence of his slipping on the steel ladder but died of
totally different diseases which are diagnosed as Pott’s disease/tuberculosis,
pneumonia and squamous cell carcinoma, which did not manifest during his
employment with the Respondents.
xxxx
It appears in this case that the injury suffered by Dovee M. Yap was not the
proximate cause of his death, therefore, not work-related and that the death
did not arise during the term of the contract of Dovee M. Yap, but more than
one (1) year after.
In order to be compensable, it is not necessary that the death occurred
during the effectivity of the contract provided the death was a natural result
of an illness or injury that the seafarer incurred while on board the vessel,
and during the effectivity of his contract. These circumstances are not
obtaining in the instant case, Dovee M. Yap was repatriated on a finished
contract and not on medical grounds as there was no recommendation by
the doctors in Bahrain who treated him when he slipped on the ladder that
he would undergo further treatment due to his fall.[12]
In its Decision[13] dated January 29, 2010, however, the NLRC reversed the Labor
Arbiter’s Decision and ordered respondents to pay petitioner the death benefits she
claimed. According to the NLRC, the accident that Dovee Yap encountered was the
proximate cause of his death, to wit:
We agree with the Complainant that the accident of her husband Dovee Yap
on July 23, 2006 was the proximate cause of his illness and eventual death.
It was not disputed that Yap, prior to his last deployment in July 2005,
passed through the required pre-medical examination and was declared fit
to work. In his ten years of employment with Respondents, there was no
showing that he was afflicted with T.B. or any other illness as he passed all
the required pre-medical examinations. We conclude, therefore, that the
injury he sustained in the July 23, 2006 accident triggered his pulmonary
illness and, therefore, his death should be compensable following the liberal
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57408
2/14