LABOR STANDARDS | CASE DIGESTS | BOOK IV

GSIS v. CA, Heirs of Abraham Cate, January 2008

GR. No. 124275
Azcuna, J.

FACTS: On March 6, 1974, Abraham Cate joined the military service as a rifleman. He was transferred from
the Philippine Navy to the now-defunct Philippine Constabulary with the rank of a Master Sergeant. In 1991,
he was absorbed by the PNP.

In 1993, he complained of a mass on his left cheek that gradually increased in size. PGH’s biopsy revealed
he was suffering from Osteoblastic Osteosarcoma. For this, he had undergone a maxillectomy that removed
the mass. In 1994, the ailment recurred and he had an operation once more. When the operation was
uneventful, he continued radiotherapy.

On Dec 1, 1994, he was compulsory retired from the PNP. Thus, prompting him to file for income benefits
with the GSIS. The GSIS denied the request saying that Osteosarcome was not one under the occupational
diseases and there was no showing that it was by nature of his work that he had contracted such.

In 1995, Cate died at the age of 45. He was substituted by his heirs. On their appeal, the ECC affirmed
GSIS’ decision.

CA ruling: Osteosarcoma is compensable and the denial thereof was illogical and unfair. In the meantime
that the origin and cause of Osteosarcoma are unknown, the benefit of the doubt should be resolved in favor
of the claim since employees’ compensation is based on social security principles.

GSIS appealed and said that the private respondent failed to establish a link between the illness and the
employment.

ISSUE: W/N the private respondents are entitled to receive the benefits?

HELD: NO, it be said that the nature of his work had increased the risk of contracting his ailment. The illness
is not prevalent in the Philippine Navy or the PNP. Even under the less stringent evidentiary norm of
substantial evidence obtaining in employees’ compensation proceedings, private respondents failed to
adduce such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support their claim.

Art. 1679 (l), Chapter 1, Title II, Book Four of the Labor Code of the Philippines, defines sickness as "any
illness definitely accepted as an occupational disease listed by the [Employees’ Compensation
Commission], or any illness caused by employment, subject to proof that the risk of contracting the same is
increased by working conditions." The same provision empowers ECC to determine and approve
occupational diseases and work-related illnesses that may be considered compensable based on peculiar
hazards of employment.

Under Sec. 1 (b), Rule III of the Amended Rules on Employees’ Compensation, "[f]or the sickness and the
resulting disability or death to be compensable, the sickness must be the result of an occupational disease
listed under Annex ‘A’ of these Rules with the conditions set therein satisfied; otherwise, proof must be
shown that the risk of contracting the disease is increased by the working conditions."

The decision of the ECC is instructive.