IRENEO FRANCISCO, PETITIONER, VS. WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION COMMISSION AND REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES (BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS), RESPONDENTS.

This is a petition for a review of the decision of the Workmen’s
Compensation Commission, reversing the decision of the Labor Provincial Office
No. VII of San Jose, Antique, granting death benefits to the petitioner Ireneo Francisco as the surviving spouse of Aida Madarcos Francisco, a public school teacher for about 12
years at Caluya, Antique.

The following are the facts not controverted.

The deceased Aida Madarcos Francisco
had been employed by the respondent Bureau of Public Schools as a public school
teacher with station at Caluya, Antique since June 21, 1962 continuously up to the time of her death on October
19, 1974.

While she was teaching,
she was assigned to an elevated place where she had to go up and down and had
to hike all the way from the school to her house and vice versa.

During and in the course
of her employment and long before the time of her death, she complained of
headache, although she continued to discharge her duties as her services were
needed by the respondent.

Sometime in 1974, while
she was on the family way, she was again attacked by the same ailment but she
was not able to file her leave of absence as she was then not yet entitled to
apply for a maternity leave.  On account
of her ailment, she consulted Dr. Eduardo Ausan, the
rural health physician of Libertad, Antique who was
also assigned as rural health physician of Caluya,
Antique and she was diagnosed to be suffering from hypertension.

Later, in the same year,
she was again attacked by the same ailment and had to be confined in a hospital
at San Jose, Oriental Mindoro
where she died on October 19, 1974.  The
physician found the cause of her
death to be that of post eclampsia.

In view of her death, the
herein petitioner filed a claim for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation
Act.  This claim was favorably decided in
his favor by Acting Referee of the Labor Provincial Office of Antique as per
his decision dated October 30, 1975.

The respondent Bureau of
Public Schools appealed the decision of the Hearing Officer to the respondent
Workmen’s Compensation Commission, which decided the claim adverse to the
herein claimant.  Hence, this petition,
which was treated as a special civil action and both parties were
required to submit simultaneous memoranda.

 The lone assignment of error raised is:

“THAT THE RESPONDENT WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION COMMISSION ERRED AND ACTED WITH GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION WHEN IT DENIED THE CLAIM FOR
COMPENSATION FILED BY THE HEREIN PETITIONER BY STATING THAT THE AILMENT OF POST
ECLAMPSIA WHICH CAUSED THE DEATH OF THE LATE AIDA MADARCOS FRANCISCO HAD NO CAUSAL RELATION WITH THE NATURE
OF HER EMPLOYMENT AS A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER.”

The petitioner contends that post eclampsia
which was found to be the cause of death of the late Aida Madarcos
Francisco was aggravated by, if not the
direct result of, her employment as a public school teacher.

The Office of the Solicitor General, on the other hand, contends
that post eclampsia, which was diagnosed as
the cause of her death, was a condition brought about by childbirth and not by
her work.

The respondent Workmen’s Compensation Commission failed to
respect the presumption of compensability, as long as the illness or death supervened during employment.
“So rigid is the rule that even when the cause of the employee’s death is
unknown x x x the right to
compensation subsists” (Itemcop vs. Florzo, 17 SCRA 1104; Magpantay vs. WCC, et al.,
L-43457, Oct. 26, 1976; Leorna, et al. vs. WCC, et al., Sept. 30, 1976).

Moreover, there is ample evidence of compensability.

According to medical authorities, eclampsia
is an attack of convulsions, but more often it refers to a seizure of
convulsions occuring in late pregnancy, during labor,
or after delivery.  While the cause is
not known, the condition is associated with, among others, a rising blood
pressure or hypertension.

“Eclampsia.  This term refers to an attack of convulsions
which may be due to any one of a number of conditions, but more often it refers
to a seizure of convulsions occuring in late pregnancy, during labor, or
after delivery.  The cause is not known,
but the condition is associated with an involvement of the kidneys and a rising
blood pressure.  At such times the body
is said to be in a state of
toxemia, which means intoxification with poisons
formed in the body, as by the faulty action of the kidneys and possibly other organs.

“The convulsions often follow severe vomiting.  The first signs are disturbances of vision
and headache.  The treatment aims at
relieving the kidneys and lowering the blood pressure.  Sedatives are used to
control the convulsions” (Schmidt’s Attorney’s Dictionary of Medicine, p.
251).

“Hypertension, or excessive
tension or pressure, especially high blood pressure is found more frequently in
people who  are overweight or who are
under emotional strain” (Ibid., pp.
378, 363).

Eclampsia, therefore, may be due
to a seizure of convulsions which may occur after delivery (post eclampsia), a condition associated with hypertension
or high blood pressure frequently found in people who are under emotional
strain.  In this case, as found by the
Labor Provincial Office No. VII of San Jose, Antique, long before her death,
while Aida Madarcos Francisco was employed with the
respondent, she already complained of headache in 1974.  And later in the same year, while she was on
the family way, she was again attacked by the same ailment but she continued
working.  She consulted Dr. Eduardo Ausan,
the rural health physician of Libertad and Caluya, Antique, who
also found her to be suffering from hypertension.  Again, in the same year, 1974, she was
attacked with hypertension and she had to be confined in a hospital in San
Jose, Oriental Mindoro,
where she died on October 19, 1974.  While the cause of her death was pronounced as “Post Eclampsia,” it is not hard to explain that this
ailment could have been aggravated
by, if not the direct result of, her hypertension suffered during and in the course of her
employment as public school teacher.  It may be added, that while the late
school teacher was employed as such, she had to walk from their house to the
school where she was teaching and vice versa and had to climb an
elevation as the school building was on an elevated portion, thereby making her
susceptible to be attacked with hypertension or the same had been aggravated by
such strenuous physical exertion.  As a
school teacher, she had to perform non-classroom duties like actual
demonstration.  She had to prepare her
lesson plan during nighttime and had to stand during classes.  All these physical and mental activities
could have contributed to her sickness or hypertension and aggravated it at a
time when she was on the family way.

WHEREFORE, THE DECISION OF THE WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION
COMMISSION IS HEREBY REVERSED AND SET ASIDE AND THE RESPONDENT BUREAU OF PUBLIC
SCHOOLS IS HEREBY DIRECTED TO PAY:

1.  THE CLAIMANT

A.  THE SUM OF SIX THOUSAND
(P6,000.00) PESOS;

B.  EXPENSES FOR MEDICAL AND
HOSPITAL SERVICE DULY SUPPORTED BY RECEIPTS; AND

C.  ATTORNEY’S FEES
EQUIVALENT TO 10% OF THE TOTAL RECEIVABLE AMOUNT; AND

2.  THE WORKMEN’S
COMPENSATION COMMISSION THE AMOUNT OF SIXTY-ONE
(P61.00) PESOS AS ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.

SO ORDERED.

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