AGILE MARITIME RESOURCES, INC., ATTY. IMELDA LIM
BARCELONA and PRONAV SHIP MANAGEMENT INC., petitioners, vs. APOLINARIO N.
SIADOR, respondent
G.R. No. 191034 | Oct. 1, 2014
FACTS:
About 2:00 PM of June 28, 2001, AB Tamayo
saw Sennis Siador jump overboard from their vessel, LNG Aries, while they were
cruising towards Sodegaura, Japan. Tamayo immediately informed 3rd
Officer Milan Crnogorac who sounded the man-overboard alarm.
The Master of the vessel immediately
ordered a life ring thrown into the water and put into motion the vessel’s
man-overboard maneuver. Fitter Rolando Moreno was ordered to keep an eye on
Dennis with the use of binoculars. Allegedly, Moreno saw Dennis floating on his
back, making no effort to swim towards the life ring. He then saw Dennis sink
in the water and disappear from sight despite the effort to rescue him. With
the horizon darkening and the temperature remarkably dropping, the search and
rescue effort was called off at 5:15 PM. Dennis’ body was never recovered.
On December 12, 2001, Apolinario Siador
filed a complaint for death benefits, damages and attorney’s fees against
petitioners for the death of his son.
The LA dismissed the complaint for lack of
cause of action. The LA found that Dennis— saddled by heavy personal and
psychological problems— took his own life by jumping overboard. The NLRC
affirmed the LA’s ruling upon appeal.
The CA partially granted the petition. It
sustained Apolinario’s position that prior to his death, Dennis had been
suffering from mental instability, and therefore could not be considered to
have intentionally taken his life. It cited the personal accounts of the
Filipino crew members on Dennis’ unusual behavior days before the incident,
which narrated that Dennis appeared to be very disturbed, anxious, depressed
and restless.
ISSUE:
Whether or not there was substantial
evidence to prove that Dennis’ death was directly attributable to his own
action, hence, his death was not compensable
RULING:
In Great Southern Maritime Services Corp v.
Leonila Surigao, the Court ruled that substantial evidence suffices for the employer
to show that the seafarer committed suicide even if there was no eyewitness to
its commission and the possibility of a contrary conclusion existed.
With the company’s discharge of the burden
to prove its defense, the burden of evidence shifted to Apolinario to rebut the
petitioners’ case. In other words, Apolinario has to prove by substantial
evidence that Dennis may be insane at
the time he took his life.
Unlike the cases of Lapid v. NLRC and Naess
Shipping Philippines Inc. v. NLRC, which were cited by the CA in upholding
their decision, the circumstances surrounding Dennis were duly proven by the
employer. That Dennis jumped, instead of fell, from the ship is a uniform
finding of the labor tribunals and the CA. The employer also showed by substantial
evidence what prompted Dennis to act as he did, without any contrary evidence
submitted by Apolinario to dispute the employer’s evidence.
Since the POEA-SEC requires the employer to
prove not only that the death is directly attributable to the seafarer himself
but also that the seafarer willfully caused his death, evidence of insanity or
mental sickness may be presented to negate the requirement of willfulness as a
matter of counter-defense. Since the willfulness may be inferred from the
physical act itself of the seafarer, the insanity or mental illness required to
be proven must be one that deprived him of the full control of his senses; in
other words, there must be sufficient proof to negate voluntariness.
But his strange behavior cannot be the basis
for a finding of grave abuse of discretion because portions of the Crewmembers’
Statement itself rendered the basis for a finding of insanity insufficient. A
few hours before the accident, Filipino crew members approached Dennis to ask
him if anything was wrong with him and Dennis simply replied that everything
was in order. No proof was ever adduced as well showing that whatever personal
problems Dennis had were enough to negate the voluntariness he showed in
stepping overboard.
Comments
Post a Comment