FIRST DIVISION
G.R. No. 243459, June 08, 2020
HEIRS OF THE LATE MARCELINO O. NEPOMUCENO, REPRESENTED BY HIS WIFE, MA. FE L. NEPOMUCENO, PETITIONERS, V. NAESS SHIPPING PHILS., INC./ROYAL DRAGON OCEAN TRANSPORT, INC.,RESPONDENTS.
D E C I S I O N
REYES, J. JR., J.:
Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court assailing the Decision1 dated April 27, 2018 and the Resolution2 dated December 10, 2018 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 147588.
Under a Contract of Employment For Marine Crew On Board Domestic Vessels (Contract, for brevity) dated October 10, 2013,3 Marcelino O. Nepomuceno (Nepomuceno) was engaged by NAESS Shipping Philippines, Inc., through its local manning agent Royal Dragon Ocean Transport, Inc. (respondents) to work as 2nd Engineer on board the vessel M/V Meilling 114 for six months, effective November 26, 2013. Nepomuceno embarked on the said vessel on the last aforementioned date. His duties involved keeping the mooring logs, scheduling the shifting of engine personnel, maintenance of equipment, and discipline of engine crew.
In the morning of December 17, 2013, Nepomuceno was found in his cabin, sitting and holding his cellular phone, and looking very pale. At 10:40 a..m., he was declared dead by the shipyard medical officer. The Autopsy Report stated that the cause of his death was myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Nepomuceno's family was informed of his death and the shipping company arranged for his remains to be brought from Cebu to Manila for interment and burial.
Nepomuceno's heirs (petitioners) sought to claim death benefits under Nepomuceno's Contract. In particular, Section C, Part II of the Addendum to the Contract (Addendum) provides: ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
When the claim was denied by the respondents, petitioners filed a complaint before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).SECTION C. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS.
- If the seafarer due to no fault of his own, suffers a work-related injury and as a result his ability to work is reduced, the Company shall pay him a disability compensation calculated on the basis of the impediment for injuries at a percentage recommended by a doctor authorized by the Company for the medical examination of seafarers.
The Company shall take out the necessary insurance to cover the benefits mentioned above.- No compensation shall be payable with respect to any injury, incapacity, disability, or death resulting from a deliberate or willful act by the seaman against himself, provided however, that the Employer can prove that such injury, incapacity, disability, or death is directly attributable to the seaman.5
The rule is that where the language of a contract is plain and unambiguous, its meaning should be determined without reference to extrinsic facts or aids. The intention of the parties must be gathered from that language, and from that language alone. Stated differently, where the language of a written contract is clear and unambiguous, the contract must be taken to mean that which, on its face, it purports to mean, unless some good reason can be assigned to show that the words should be understood in a different sense. Courts cannot make for the parties better or more equitable agreements than they themselves have been satisfied to make, or rewrite contracts because they operate harshly or inequitably as to one of the parties, or alter them for the benefit of one party and to the detriment of the other, or by construction, relieve one of the parties from the terms which he voluntarily consented to, or impose on him those which he did not.24 (Citations and emphases omitted)On the basis of the foregoing discussion, the Court finds it no longer necessary to pass upon the issue of whether Nepomuceno's death is work-related and whether the disease he contracted and which ultimately caused his death is compensable. This is in order not to preempt any determination of the same in another recourse that petitioners may want to resort to, with respect to claims for other benefits to which they may be entitled to. Notably, Section K [Applicable Law], Part I of the Addendum provides that "[i]t is understood and agreed that all rights and obligations of the parties to this Contract, shall be governed by the terms and conditions of this Contract and by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines."25 In relation to this, Department Order No. 129-13 (Rules and Regulations Governing the Employment and Working Conditions of Seafarers Onboard Ships Engaged in Domestic Shipping) of the Department of Labor and Employment, dated June 7, 2013, provides: ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
At this juncture, the Court points out that petitioners' reliance on Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) v. Villareal,26 which held that myocardial infarction is a compensable occupational disease, is misplaced for it is inapplicable to the present case. In said case, the claim was not lodged against the employer, but against GSIS. On the other hand, Rañises v. Employees Compensation Commission (ECC),27 cited in GSIS v. Villareal, involved a claim of benefits filed before the Social Security System (SSS). In Rañises, this Court enumerated its rulings in cases which held that myocardial infarction is a compensable occupational disease, particularly the cases of Sepulveda v. ECC,28Cortes v. ECC,29Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA),30Roldan v. Republic,31Tibulan v. Inciong,32Heirs of the Late R/O Reynaldo Aniban v. National Labor Relations Commission,33GSIS v. Gabriel,34 and Republic v. Mariano.35 Perusal of the abovementioned cases will reveal that they do not involve claims for death benefits by virtue of an employment contract but claims under the provisions of Act No. 3428, also known as the Workmen's Compensation Act, as amended, or those filed with the GSIS or the SSS, in which case the pertinent rules of the ECC on cardiovascular disease as compensable occupational disease find application.RULE VI
SOCIAL SECURITY
SEC. 1. Coverage and Benefits. Without prejudice to established policy, collective bargaining agreement or other applicable employment agreement, all seafarers shall be covered by the Social Security System (Republic Act No 1161, as amended by Republic Act No. 8282), Employees' Compensation and State Insurance Fund (Presidential Decree No. 626), PhilHealth (Republic Act No. 7875, as amended by Republic Act No. 9241), and the Pag-IBIG Fund (Republic Act No. 7742), and other applicable laws. The seafarers shall be entitled to all the benefits in accordance with the respective policies, laws, rules and regulations.
Endnotes:
* Additional member per Raffle dated February 12, 2020 in lieu of Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez.
1 Penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez (now a Member of the Court), with Associate Justices Victoria Isabel A. Paredes and Carmelita Salandanan Manahan, concurring; rollo, pp. 175-184.
2 Id. at 168-173.
3 The present Petition for Review on Certiorari and the CA Decision dated April 27, 2018 state that he was engaged on October 10, 2012. See Rollo, p. 17 and p. 175, respectively. Both the Decision dated June 8, 2015 of the Voluntary Arbitrator and Nepomuceno's contract, however, state that Nepomuceno was engaged on October 10, 2013; id. at 56 and 83, respectively.
4M/V Meilling 11 in the Decision dated June 8, 2015 of the Voluntary Arbitrator, id. at 56; M/V Meiling-11 in the CA Decision, id. at 175.
5 Id. at 87-88. The Addendum is attached to the Contract and is made an integral part thereof.
6 Id. at 56-59.
7 Accredited Voluntary Arbitrator Walfredo D. Villazor.
8 Id. at 57-58.
9 Id. at 58.
10 Id. at 58-59.
11 Id. at 54.
12 Supra note 1.
13 Referring to the Social Security System (SSS) or Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), as the case may be.
14 Id. at 181-182. In particular, the CA cited Article 194 of the Labor Code, now renumbered as Article 200 per DOLE Department Advisory No. 01, s. 2015, which provides:
ART. 200. [194] Death. - (a) Under such regulations as the Commission may approve, the System shall pay to the primary beneficiaries upon the death of the covered employee under this Title, an amount equivalent to his monthly income benefit, plus ten percent thereof for each dependent child, but not exceeding five, beginning with the youngest and without substitution, except as provided for in paragraph (j) of Article 167 hereof: Provided, however, That the monthly income benefit shall be guaranteed for five years: Provided, further, That if he has no primary beneficiary, the System shall pay to his secondary beneficiaries the monthly income benefit but not to exceed sixty months: Provided, finally, That the minimum death benefit shall not be less than fifteen thousand pesos.
(b) Under such regulations as the Commission may approve, the System shall pay to the primary beneficiaries upon the death of a covered employee who is under permanent total disability under this Title, eighty percent of the monthly income benefit and his dependents to the dependents' pension: Provided, That the marriage must have been validly subsisting at the time of disability: Provided, further, That if he has no primary beneficiary, the System shall pay to his secondary beneficiaries the monthly pension excluding the dependents' pension, of the remaining balance of the five-year guaranteed period: Provided, finally, That the minimum death benefit shall not be less than fifteen thousand pesos.
(c) The monthly income benefit provided herein shall be the new amount of the monthly income benefit for the surviving beneficiaries upon the approval of this decree.
(d) Funeral benefit. - A funeral benefit of Three Thousand Pesos (P3,000.00) shall be paid upon the death of a covered employee or permanently totally disabled pensioner.
15 Id. at 182.
16 Id. at 182-183.
17 Id. at 168-173.
18 Id. at 187-213.
19 Id. at 193-194.
20 Id. at 236-249.
21 Id. at 237-239.
22 ART. 1700. The relations between capital and labor are not merely contractual. They are so impressed with public interest that labor contracts must yield to the common good. Therefore, such contracts are subject to the special laws on labor unions, collective bargaining, strikes and lockouts, closed shop, wages, working conditions, hours of labor and similar subjects.
23 G.R. No. 220978, July 5, 2016, 795 SCRA 671, citing Norton Resources and Development Corporation v. All Asia Bank Corporation, 620 Phil. 381, 388 (2009).
24 Id. at 681-682.
25Rollo, p. 87.
26 549 Phil. 504 (2007).
27 504 Phil. 340 (2005).
28 174 Phil. 242 (1978).
29 175 Phil. 331 (1978).
30 252 Phil. 59 (1989).
31 261 Phil. 327 (1990).
32 257 Phil. 324 (1989).
33 347 Phil. 46 (1997).
34 368 Phil. 187 (1999).
35 448 Phil. 99 (2003).
36 512 Phil. 301 (2005).
37 "Moral damages may be awarded to an employee when the employer acted in bad faith or fraud, in a manner oppressive to labor, or in a manner contrary to morals, good customs, or public policy." (Beltran v. AMA Computer Collee-Biñan, G.R. No. 223795, April 3, 2019).
38 CIVIL CODE, Art. 2229. Exemplary or corrective damages are imposed, by way of example or correction for the public good, in addition to the moral, temperate, liquidated or compensatory damages. See also Timado v. Rural Bank of San Jose, 789 Phil. 453 (2016).
39 Id. at Art. 2232.
40 Id. at Art. 2208. In the absence of stipulation, attorney's fees and expenses of litigation, other than judicial costs, cannot be recovered, except:
(1) When exemplary damages are awarded;
x x x x
41See CIVIL CODE, Art. 2208(5).
42 Id. at Art. 2208(2).
43See Pardillo v. Bandojo, G.R. No. 224854, March 27, 2019, citing ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. v. Court of Appeals, 361 Phil. 499, 529 (1999).chanRoblesvirtualLawlibrary