G.R. No. L-10362; November 27, 1959
LUZON BROKERAGE COMPANY, INC., petitioner, vs. ESTELITA DAYAO, ET AL., respondents.

FACTS

The respondents, Estelita, Teresita, Norma, and Ramon Dayao (all minors), are the surviving children of Antonio Dayao, a laborer-carpenter employed by the petitioner Luzon Brokerage Company, Inc. from 1949 until his death on July 28, 1952. On the morning of July 28, 1952, Dayao and nine other company laborers rode a company truck to Parañaque, Rizal, to move heavy household effects (refrigerator, electric range, freezer, beds, tables, etc.) for a client, using a mechanical lifter. The work lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. After lunch in Malate, Manila, Dayao took a nap. At 12:55 p.m., while being awakened for afternoon work, he suddenly stood up gasping for air, appeared to want to jump, and was taken to the hospital but died en route. The company filed an employer’s accident report, and the children filed a claim for compensation. A referee denied the claim, ruling the death was due to natural causes and not an accident arising from employment. The claimants filed a petition for review of the referee’s opinion. The Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner reversed the referee, awarding death compensation of P3,900 plus P200 for burial expenses. The company appealed, arguing the petition for review was filed out of time and that Dayao’s death was caused by a natural disease (“bangungot”), not by his work.

ISSUE

1. Whether the claimants’ petition for review of the referee’s opinion was filed on time.
2. Whether Antonio Dayao’s death arose out of and in the course of his employment, making it compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

RULING

1. On the timeliness of the petition for review: The Supreme Court held the petition was filed on time. The claimants received the referee’s decision on February 16, 1954. Under the Commission’s rules, they had 15 days (until March 3) to seek review. The Commission granted an extension to March 17. Before that expired, the claimants, citing their counsel’s father’s death and subsequent illness, sought and were granted further extensions, finally filing the petition on March 31, 1954. The Court rejected the company’s narrow interpretation that extensions could only be granted within the original 15-day period. It ruled that any additional time granted forms part of the whole period, and multiple extensions may be allowed at the discretion of the referee or Commissioner, especially since the workmen’s compensation law must be liberally construed in favor of laborers.
2. On the compensability of the death: The Supreme Court affirmed the Commissioner’s decision that the death was compensable. The medical evidence showed Dayao died of acute cardiac failure (dilatation of the right ventricle). The company’s witness, Dr. Juan Z. Santa Cruz, attributed it to “bangungot,” which he admitted was a mysterious disease with unknown cause and pathology not found in medical textbooks. In contrast, Dr. Angelo Singian, the police medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified the heart failure was caused by the strenuous hauling work, exacerbated by a pre-existing fibrocaseous tuberculosis that reduced bodily resistance. The Court found Dr. Singian’s testimony, based on autopsy findings, more credible and conclusive than the theoretical and unproven nature of “bangungot.” Therefore, Dayao’s death resulted from overexertion and undue fatigue in the course of his employment, entitling his children to death compensation.
The decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner was affirmed, with costs against the petitioner.