TSM Shipping (Phils.), Inc. v. Shirley G.

De Chavez
G.R. No. 198225; September 27, 2017

FACTS:
This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari assailing the CA decision which reversed both the
NLRC and LA decision and granted the complaint for payment of death benefits filed by
respondent Shirley De Chavez.

On August 23, 2005, petitioners hired Ryan De Chavez as chief cook on board the oil tanker
vessel Haruna Express for a period of nine months. However, on February 26, 2005, De Chavez
was found dead inside his cabin bathroom hanging by the shower cord and covered with blood.
De Chavez’s surviving spouse, herein respondent, filed a complaint for death benefits.
Respondent alleged that her husband did not commit suicide considering that he even
submitted himself to a medical checkup prior to his death and that no suicide note was found.
She claimed that since De Chavez died during the effectivity of his contract and while on board
the vessel, his heirs are entitled to death benefits. On the other hand, petitioners claimed that
respondent is not entitled to death benefits under the POEA-SEC because it was uniformly
found by authorities that the cause of De Chavez’ death is suicide and that under the POEA-SEC,
a seafarer’s death during the term of his contract is not automatically compensable if the same
was due to his willful act.

ISSUE: Whether or not the petitioners be liable for the payment of death benefits to the heirs
when the cause of death of the deceased employee was due to a willful act of the latter?

RULING:

No, the petitioners are not liable to pay the death benefits to respondent for the death of De
Chavez.

The employer is liable to pay the heirs of the deceased seafarer for death benefits once it is
established that he died during the effectivity of his employment contract. However, as
provided under Section 20 (D) of POEA-SEC, the employer may be exempt from liability if it can
successfully prove that the seaman's death was caused by an injury directly attributable to his
deliberate or willful act. Given the evidence on record, the SC held that De Chavez’s death was
due to his own deliberate act and deed. This was duly proved by Ulsan City Hospital’s medical
certificate of death and the INTECO’s report. In the absence, as in this case, of incontrovertible
proof to the contrary, it must be presumed that the persons who prepared these documents
acted in good faith to attest to the facts they saw or had personal knowledge of, and that these
documents likewise spoke the truth. Therefore, petitioners are not liable to pay the death
benefits to respondent for the death of De Chavez.