Inter-Orient vs. NLRC, 235 SCRA 268,
G.R. No. 115286, August 11, 1994
Subject: Transportation Law
FACTS
Jeremias Pineda was contracted to work as
Oiler on board the vessel, MV Amazonia, from Dec. 21, 1988 to Sept.
28,1989. When he finished his contract, he was discharged from the port of
Dubai for repatriation to Manila. During his layover in Bangkok, Thailand, he
disembarked on his own free will and failed to join the connecting flight to
Hongkong. During which, he was shot by a Thai Policeman and died. The police
report submitted to the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok confirmed that it was
Pineda who ‘approached and tried to stab the police sergeant with a knife and
that therefore he was forced to pull out his gun and shot Pineda.
The deceased’s mother, Constancia Pineda,
filed for death compensation benefits against Interorient Maritime Enterprises,
Inc. and it foreign principal, Fircroft Shipping Corporation and the Times
Surety and Insurance Co., Inc. They averred that the deceased seaman was
suffering from mental disorder aggravated by threats on his life by his fellow
seamen, the Ship Captain should not have allowed him to travel alone.
Respondent agency averred that they are not
liable to pay any death/burial benefits pursuant to the provisions of Par. 6,
Section C, Part II, POEA-SEC which states that ‘no compensation shall be
payable in respect of any injury, incapacity, disability or death resulting
from a willfull act on his own life by the seaman’; that the deceased seaman
died due to his own wilfull act in attacking a policeman in Bangkok who shot
him in self-defense.”
ISSUE
Whether or not the local crewing or manning
agent and its foreign principal are liable for the death of a Filipino
seaman-employee who, after having been discharged, was killed in-transit while
being repatriated home.
RULING
Yes, the local crewing or manning agent and
its foreign principal are liable for the death of a Filipino seaman-employee. Though
the termination of the employment contract was duly effected in Dubai, still,
the responsibility of the foreign employer to see to it that Pineda was duly
repatriated to the point of hiring subsisted.
Section 4, Rule VIII of the Rules and
Regulations Governing Overseas Employment clearly provides for the duration of
the mandatory personal accident and life insurance covering accidental death,
dismemberment and disability of overseas workers: “Section 4. Duration of
Insurance Coverage.—The minimum coverage shall take effect upon payment of the
premium and shall be extended worldwide, on and off the job, for the duration
of the worker’s contract plus 60 calendar days after termination of the
contract of employment’, provided that in no case shall the duration of the
insurance coverage be less than one year.”
The foreign employer may not have been
obligated by its contract to provide a companion for a returning employee, but
it cannot deny that it was expressly tasked by its agreement to assure the safe
return of said worker. The uncaring attitude displayed by petitioners who,
knowing fully well that its employee had been suffering from some mental
disorder, nevertheless still allowed him to travel home alone is appalling.
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