VALERIANA O. MORALES, PETITIONER, VS. WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION COMMISSION (BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS), RESPONDENT.

This is a petition for certiorari to review the decision
of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission dated January 12, 1976 affirming the decision of Regional Office
No. 5, Legaspi
City dated December 16, 1975, dismissing the petitioner’s
claim for compensa­tion benefits against the Republic of the Philippines
(Bureau of Public Schools).  This Court,
by resolution dated August 1, 1976,
gave due course to the petition, treated it as a special civil action and
required the parties to file simultaneous memoranda.

The following facts are embodied in the decision of the
respondent Commission:

“It appears from the records of this case that claimant joined
the service of the respondent in 1938 as a teacher and retired from the service
on June 4, 1973, at the rate of P4,188.00 per annum; that per service record her
service was continuous from 1952 to her date of retirement in 1972; that on
September 18, 1971, she was allegedly treated by Dr. Agustin F. Cuevas for amoebiasis,
intestinal, colitis, amoebic, gastri­tis and anemia; that after treatment, her
ailments were off and on; that from February 23, 1973 up to April 14, 1973, she was on sick leave
allegedly due to an illness; that she retired on June 4, 1973 at the age of 60
years (1) month and (6) days, having been born on April 28, 1913.

“It is from the foregoing facts as found by us that we are to
resolve on whether or not there was any causal connection between claimant’s
ailment of the intestines caused by amoeba which resulted into the inflammation
of her intestines and stomach walls and her former work as teacher of
respondent Bureau.  We find no error in
the decision of the Referee below when he dismissed this claim for lack of
merit.  Firstly (1), there was no
showing in the records that the claim­ant’s work as a teacher had exposed her
to amoeba, which is a parasite taken in thru food and drinking water, or
thru dirty hands.  Moreover, (2) her
own service record showed that there was no disability for labor from the
time of her employment up to her retirement in 1973.  Furthermore, (3) her retirement from the
service had failed to show that it was due to any disability”
(underlining supplied; p. 10,
rec.).

The decision under review must be set aside.

There is sufficient evidence that as a grade school teacher
assigned in several barrio schools, petitioner had
been exposed to amoeba, a parasite taken thru the food and drinking water or
thru dirty hands.  Petitioner offered
Exhibit A, Annex B of petition, which positively established that during her
entire government service as a public school teacher,

“x x I had
been assigned to teach in several barrio schools where the only source of
drinking water was the ordinary open wells. 
During those times I had no inkling that those sources of drinking water
could have been polluted.  As a result I
started having abdominal pains which began to bother me and affected my health
and efficiency as a classroom teacher until finally I was forced to retire from
the service prior to the forced retirement age. 
Moreover, while participating in scouting activities I had to drink
water in the barrios which I think only now was unfit to drink.  Aside from this scouting
activities I had to do other extracurricular activities like adult
education and food produc­tion drive in the barrios which con­sumed my time and
consequently I was always forced then to take my meals and drank (sic) water
available in the barrios.  In addition,
while living in the barrios as a
teacher I had to drink whatever water
offered me especially during public gatherings.  Thus, I felt I got the sickness
from the barrios where I was assigned
to teach because it was only during and after my teaching assignment there
that I began to suffer the
sickness until at present.  I began to
feel weak and anemic.”

Petitioner’s Exhibit A, Annex G of petition, an affidavit executed
by Dr. Agustin F. Cuevas, a licensed active private medical practitioner
in Daet, Camarines Norte,
strongly corroborated petitioner’s Exhibit A, as well as showed that
petitioner’s ail­ment disabled her for labor from time to time during her employment up to her retirement in 1973, thus:

“x x x Mrs.
Valeriana O. Morales has been my patient for intestinal amoebiasis on and off
since September 18, 1971 and the last
time I treated her was on March
31, 1975 when she was confined at
G.S. Briola Hospital in Daet,
Camarines Norte for chronic intestinal amoebiasis;

“4.
That intestinal amoebiasis can be acquired by
drinking water from open wells
in her teaching stations;

“5.
That this condition
may be cured but rather resistant to treatment parti­cularly since this
condition is endemic in Camarines Norte, especially
in the barrios, the possibility of reinfestation is
highly probable;

“6.
That definitely this disease is disabling since it produces a chronic anemia
and frequently affects the liver where it may gradually develop as amoebic
abscess of the liver.”

Exhibit D, Annex B of petition, also confirmed that petitioner was on sick leave from February 23,
1973 up to April 14, 1973; that in spite
of constant treatment, her ailment of
intestinal amoebiasis was on and off; that she
was suffering from “chronic
diarrhea with blood and sometimes mucus in my stool with gas pains, which
continued for a long time,” and which Dr. Cuevas found to be “amoebic
dysentery or intestinal histolytica“; that her
health, according to her school principal (Annex
F, Exh. E), “deterio­rated and as a
result of which she was often absent”; and that she had to retire
effective June 4, 1973, at age 60, after about 35 years of government service,
for she was no longer physically fit to continue serving efficiently as a
school teacher, “in order to rehabilitate her failing health and prolong her life.”

Aside from actual proof of disability arising from her employment, the presumption of compensability as long as the ailment
supervenes during employment, remains unrebutted.

Memorandum-Circular No. 133 issued by the Executive Secretary on October 16, 1967 allows optional
retirement before reaching the compulsory retirement age of 65 only when the
employee “is physically incapacitated to render sound, efficient
service.”

ACCORDINGLY, THE DECISION OF THE WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION
COMMISSION IS HEREBY REVERSED AND SET ASIDE AND RESPONDENT BUREAU OF PUBLIC
SCHOOLS IS HEREBY ORDERED:

(1)  TO PAY CLAIMANT
VALERIANA O. MORALES

[A] THE SUM OF SIX
THOUSAND (P6,000.00) PESOS AS COMPENSA­TION BENEFITS;

[B] THE EXPENSES
INCURRED FOR MEDICAL AND HOSPITAL SERV­ICES DULY SUPPORTED BY RECEIPTS; AND

[C] ATTORNEY’S FEES
EQUIVA­LENT TO 10% OF THE TOTAL RECEIV­ABLE AMOUNT;

(2) TO PROVIDE CLAIMANT SUCH MEDICAL AND HOSPITAL SERVICES AS
REQUIRED BY THE NATURE OF HER AILMENT; AND

(3) TO PAY THE
WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION COMMISSION THE SUM OF SIXTY ONE [P61.00] PESOS AS
ADMINISTRATIVE FEES:

Teehankee, (Chairman), Muñoz Palma, Concepcion, Jr., and Martin, JJ., concur.