SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 230152. January 8, 2018.]
EDILBRANDO C. SIAROT, petitioner,vs. SPLASH/TST/TAIYO SANGYO TRADING AND MARINE SERVICE LTD. AND C/E LORENZO ESTRADA II, respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 08 January 2018 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 230152 (Edilbrando C. Siarot v. Splash/TST/Taiyo Sangyo Trading and Marine Service Ltd. and C/E Lorenzo Estrada II)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition and AFFIRM the June 3, 2016 Decision 1 and January 16, 2017 Resolution 2 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 135035 for failure of petitioner Edilbrando C. Siarot (petitioner) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in reinstating the Labor Arbiter's August 28, 2013 Decision, which dismissed his complaint for disability benefits, damages, and attorney's fees.
As correctly ruled by the CA, while petitioner's illness, acute gouty arthritis, is a non-listed occupational disease and disputably presumed to be work-related in accordance with Section 20 (A) (4) 3 of the 2010 Philippine Overseas Employment Administration-Standard Employment Contract, he, however, failed to satisfactorily show the conditions for its compensability as provided under Section 32-A 4 thereof. It bears stressing that in claiming disability benefits, the seafarer/claimant is burdened to present substantial evidence that his work conditions caused or at least increased the risk of contracting the disease and only a reasonable proof of work-connection, not direct causal relation, is required to establish its compensability, 5 which petitioner failed to discharge.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 43-58. Penned by Associate Justice Maria Elisa Sempio Diy with Associate Justices Ramon M. Bato, Jr. and Manuel M. Barrios concurring.
2.Id. at 59-60.
3. Section 20. Compensation and Benefits
A. Compensation and Benefits for Injury or Illness
xxx xxx xxx
1. Those illnesses not listed in Section 32 of this Contract are disputably presumed as work-related.
4. Section 32-A. Occupational Diseases
For an occupational disease and the resulting disability or death to be compensable, all of the following conditions must be satisfied:
1. The seafarer's work must involve the risks described herein;
2. The disease was contracted as a result of the seafarer's exposure to the described risks;
3. The disease was contracted within a period of exposure and under such other factors necessary to contract it; and
4. There was no notorious negligence on the part of the petitioner. (Emphasis supplied)
5. See Atienza v. Orophil Shipping International Co., Inc., G.R. No. 191049, August 7, 2017; citation omitted.