GR L 46775; (January, 1985) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-46775 January 17, 1985
SILVERIO PARAGES, petitioner, vs. EMPLOYEES’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION and GOVERNMENT SERVICE INSURANCE SYSTEM (CEBU CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT), respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Silverio Parages was a detective with the Cebu City Police Department, serving in various units including the Missing Persons Squad, Foot Patrol, and the Warrant and Subpoena Section until his optional retirement on July 1, 1975, at age 63. His duties involved serving court processes within Cebu City. Medical records indicated he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in both knees in 1967 and 1969. In 1972, he was hospitalized and found to be suffering from essential hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and osteoarthritis.
Parages filed a claim for disability benefits with the GSIS, contending his ailments were work-connected and aggravated by his duties. The GSIS denied the claim, ruling the ailments were not occupational diseases but were attributable to factors like heredity, age, diet, and obesity, not his employment. The ECC affirmed this denial, stating the diseases were not listed as occupational under P.D. No. 626 and that Parages failed to show his working conditions increased the risk of contracting them.
ISSUE
Whether petitioner Silverio Parages is entitled to disability compensation benefits under the applicable compensation law.
RULING
Yes. The Supreme Court granted the petition and awarded benefits. The legal logic hinges on the applicable law governing the accrual of the claim. Parages’s cause of action accrued in 1967 when he was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, long before the effectivity of the new Labor Code (P.D. No. 626). Following the doctrine in Corales vs. ECC, the provisions of the old Workmen’s Compensation Act, not P.D. No. 626, govern the claim.
Under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the legal presumption of compensability applies. Since the ailments supervened during employment, they are presumed to be work-related. The burden shifts to the employer to disprove this connection. Here, the respondents failed to rebut this presumption. The Court found the nature of police work—exposure to the elements, a hectic and strenuous grind, and inherent risks—directly caused and aggravated his conditions. His optional retirement at 63, two years before compulsory age, was itself proof of physical incapacity under relevant administrative circulars.
The Court emphasized the government’s duty to afford relief to police officers incapacitated by illnesses caused or aggravated by their hazardous duties, in line with social justice principles. The Cebu City Police Department was ordered to pay disability compensation, reimburse medical expenses, provide rehabilitation services, and pay attorney’s fees and costs.