“The pertinent provision of the New Civil Code reads:
“Article 1711. Owners of enterprises and other employers are obliged to pay
compensation for the death of or injuries to their laborers, workmen,
mechanics or other employees, even though the event may have been purely
accidental or entirely due to a fortuitous cause, if the death or personal injury
arose out of and in the course of employment. The employer is also liable for
compensation if the employee contracts any illness or diseases caused by such
employment or as the result of the nature of employment. If the mishap was
due to the employee’s own notorious negligence, or voluntary act, or
drunkenness, the employer shall not be liable for compensation. When the
employee’s lack of due care contributed to his death or injury, the
compensation shall be equitably reduced.
“In the case of Philippine Air Lines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, this Court
validated the strength of the aforementioned provision and made the employer
liable for the injury suffered by its employee in the course of employment. We
thus ruled:
“Having affirmed the gross negligence of PAL in allowing Capt. Delfin
Bustamante to fly the plane to Daet on January 8, 1951 whose slow reaction
and poor judgment was the cause of the crash-landing of the plane which
resulted in private respondent Samson hitting his head against the windshield
and causing him injuries for which reason PAL terminated his services and
employment as pilot after refusing to provide him with the necessary medical
treatment of respondent’s periodic spells, headache and general debility
produced from said injuries, We must necessarily affirm likewise the award of
damages or compensation under the provisions of Art. 1711 and Art. 1712 of
the New Civil Code. x x x.
“As early as the case of Valencia v. Manila Yacht Club, Inc.,22 this Court,
speaking through the renowned civilist, Mr. Justice J.B.L. Reyes, made a
pronouncement that Article 1711 of the Civil Code imposes upon the
employer the obligation to compensate the employee for injury or sickness
occasioned by his employment, and thus articulated:
“>Appellant’s demand for compensation is predicated on employer’s liability
for the sickness of, or injury to, his employee imposed by Article 1711 of the
Civil Code, which reads:
“Article 1711. Owners of enterprises and other employers are obliged to pay
compensation for the death x x x.
“We find the abovequoted provision to be applicable and controlling in this
case. The matter of the amount of compensation and allowable medical
expenses should be properly determined by the Municipal Court after the
parties are heard accordingly.
57
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