E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly 10 of 18 http://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57858 illness under the POEA-SEC. Death compensation was also denied to the claimants in Hermogenes v. Osco Shipping Services, Inc.,[61] since no evidence was offered to prove the cause of the termination of the contract of employment, whereas it was found that the seafarer therein died three (3) years after his disembarkation of an illness which was not shown to have been contracted during his employment. An identical ruling was rendered in Prudential Shipping and Management Corp. v. Sta. Rita,[62] wherein the seafarer in said case was repatriated due to umbilical hernia but died one (1) year after of cardiopulmonary arrest, which was not, however, established as work-related. Similarly, death compensation was denied the claimants in Ortega v. CA,[63] considering that the seafarer therein died of lung cancer which was not found to be work-related. Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the jurisprudential spectrum, the Court, in a number of cases, granted claims for death benefits although the seafarers’ death therein had occurred after their repatriation primarily because of the causal connection between their work and the illness which had eventually resulted in their death. In the 1999 case of Wallem Maritime Service, Inc. v. NLRC,[64] the death benefit claims of the heirs of the seafarer who had died after having been repatriated on account of “mutual consent” between him and his employer was allowed by the Court because of the “reasonable connection” between his job and his illness. As pertinently stated in that case: It is not required that the employment be the sole factor in the growth, development or acceleration of the illness to entitle the claimant to the benefits provided therefor. It is enough that the employment had contributed, even in a small degree, to the development of the disease and in bringing about his death. It is indeed safe to presume that, at the very least, the nature of Faustino Inductivo’s employment had contributed to the aggravation of his illness — if indeed it was pre-existing at the time of his employment — and therefore it is but just that he be duly compensated for it. It cannot be denied that there was at least a reasonable connection between his job and his lung infection, which eventually developed into septicemia and ultimately caused his death. As a [utility man] on board the vessel, he was exposed to harsh sea weather, chemical irritants, dusts, etc., all of which invariably contributed to his illness. Neither is it necessary, in order to recover compensation, that the employee must have been in perfect condition or health at the time he contracted the disease. Every workingman brings with him to his employment certain infirmities, and while the employer is not the insurer of the health of the employees, he takes them as he finds them and 3/27/2020, 12:51 PM