THE HEIRS OF REYNALDO A. ANDAG, namely VENERANDA B. ANDAG, JAYMARK B. ANDAG,
HONEY GRACE B. ANDAG and KIM PHILIP B. ANDAG, represented by their ATTORNEY-IN-FACT,
VENERANDA B. ANDAG, petitioners, vs. DMC CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT RESOURCES INC.,
JORGE A. CONSUNJI, president, and AGUSTINE B. GONZALEZ, Area Manager, respondents
G.R. No. 244361 July 13, 2020
FACTS:
Reynaldo worked as a Second Mate on DMCI's tugboat, the M/T Alexander Paul. On October 18, 2013, while
the tugboat was hauling an overweight barge, a recoiling rope unintentionally struck Reynaldo, throwing him
against the ship's iron bars. Reynaldo was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
Months later, DMCI contacted petitioners and offered them P200,000.00 as compensation for Reynaldo's
death in exchange for signing a waiver and quitclaim in its favor. Petitioners no longer hear from DMCI after
refusing the offer, pushing them to file a formal demand letter, which the latter ignores. As a result, they were
forced to bring a complaint against respondent before the NLRC seeking payment of death benefits and other
monetary claims.
DMCI argued in its defense that petitioners should recover death payments from the State Insurance Fund
rather than from them as Reynaldo's employer.
ISSUE:
Whether or not DMCI is liable to pay petitioner heirs for the death of Reynaldo
RULING:
No.
While Reynaldo was definitely hired by DMCI as a seafarer, it should be noted that he was only deployed on
an inter-island vessel sailing in domestic waters. As a result, his employment was not covered by any POEA-
Standard Employment Contract, which is typical of employment contracts involving seafarers sailing in
international seas - a contract that particularly contains clauses that hold an employer accountable if a
seafarer dies while on duty. Absent any express provision in his DMCI employment contract, Reynaldo's
death on the job is governed by the Labor Code, namely Articles 174, 178, 179, and 200(a).
According to case law, "the evident intention of the law is that the employer should be relieved of the
responsibility to directly pay his employees compensation for work-connect illness or injury on the assumption
that this is part of the cost of production or commercial activity. The requirement for adversarial hearings
between an employer and his employee, in which there was a particular legal presumption operating in favor
of the employee and statutorily established defenses accessible to an employer, would no longer be
necessary.
Accordingly, "once the employer pays his share to the fund, all obligation on his part to his employees is
ended." Given the preceding, DMCI is not liable for Reynaldo's death benefits as it is the State Insurance
Fund, notably the SSS, who is liable for doing so.