GREGORIO ANDES, SR., PETITIONER, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES (BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS), HON. BLAS F. OPLE, SECRETARY OF THE DEPT. OF LABOR, AND ERNESTO H. CRUZ, CHIEF OF TH…

This is a petition to
review the Order of the Secretary, now Minister, of Labor in Case No. R06-WCU No. 473, entitled “Gregorio
Andes, Sr., Claimant vs. Republic of the Philippines (Bureau of Public Schools),
Respondent”, denying the claim for reimbursement of additional medical
expenses.1

The petitioner, Gregorio
Andes, Sr., was an employee of the Bureau of Public Schools, Sorsogon Division. 
He sustained an injury on a PAL plane while on his way from Manila
to Sorsogon on an official business for the
respondent Bureau of Public Schools.

Gregorio Andes, Sr. filed
a claim with the Region­al Office No. VI, Workmen’s Compensation Unit, in Naga City, which was docketed as Case No. R06-WCU-473.  The
claim was not controverted by the Bureau of Public
Schools.  The Acting Referee of
Regional Office No. VI granted an award dated February 4,
1972, the dis­positive portion which reads:

“WHEREFORE, AWARD is hereby rendered in favor of the claimant
Gregorio C. Andes and against the respondent, ordering the latter:

1.  To pay claimant, Gregorio Andes, thru this
Office, the sum of P6,000.00 as compensation pursuant to Section 18 of the law;

2.  To pay claimant, thru this Office, the sum of
P14,194.95 as reimbursement of medical expenses
incurred after his release from Manila Doctor’s Hospital on July 15, 1966, pursuant to Section 13
of the law.  Said expenses are all
covered by receipts;

3.  To extend to claimant further medical
services until his illness is medi­cally pronounced cured by competent medical
authority pursuant to Section 13 of the same law;

4.  To pay claimant’s counsel, Atty. Pedro B. Carranza, thru this Office, the sum of P300.00 as
attorney’s fee, pursuant to Section 31 of the law;

5.  To pay the Workmen’s Compensation Fund, thru
this Office, the sum of P61.00 as administrative fee, pursuant to Section 55 of
the law.

“SO ORDERED.”^[2]

The decision became final
and executory, no appeal having been taken by the respondent.  The
amounts adjudicated were paid except Item No. 3 which reads:

“To extend to claimant further medical services until his
illness is medically pronounced cured by competent medical autho­rity pursuant
to Section 13 of the same law x x x.”

The petitioner filed a
claim to recover the medi­cal expenses incurred from 1972 to December
31, 1975 in
the amount of P19,818.00.  The then Secretary of Labor denied the claim
for reimbursement because:

“As we have time and again ruled, a finding of permanent total
disability is inconsistent with a grant of further medical services. 
For once an injury or disa­bility is declared to be permanent and
total in nature, as in this case, the need for further medical treatment ceases
to exist because no amount of subsequent me­dication could restore the injured
to his maximum level of physical capacity.”3

The
award in favor of the petitioner by the Act­ing
Referee of Regional Office No. VI, Naga City is admittedly final and executory.  Hence no part thereof may be modified even by
the Secretary, now Minister of Labor.

In Carreon
vs. Workmen’s Compensation Commission,4 this Court said:

“In Vitug vs. Republic, (L-44890,
Feb. 28, 1977), we once again reaffirmed our ruling in Ramos vs. Republic, 69
SCRA 576 (Feb. 27, 1976), that ‘(the) basic rule of finality of judgments is
applicable indiscriminately to one
and all and regard­less of whether respondent employer be a public or private
employer, since the rule is grounded on fundamental considerations of public
policy and sound practice that at risk of occasional error, the judgment of
courts and award of quasi-judicial agencies must become final at some definite
dated fixed by law.'”

All that should be
determined is whether or not the expenses were actually incurred by reason of
the injury he sustained on board the PAL plane while travelling
on official business for the Bureau of Public Schools.  Apparently there was no dispute because the
amounts incurred for medical expenses are supported by proper receipts.

The contention that the
petitioner is no longer entitled to be reimbursed of his medical expenses
because his physician has declared him to be totally and permanently disabled
has no merit:  The petitioner has a right
to seek further improvement of his physi­cal condition.  He also has the right to receive medical
treatment to alleviate the pain resulting from the injuries.

WHEREFORE, the Order of the Secretary of Labor dated April 27, 1977 is hereby set aside
and the Bureau of Public Schools is ordered to pay the petitioner the amount of
P19,818.00 representing medical expenses he incurred
from 1972 to December 31, 1975
supported by proper receipts at a proper hearing to be held for the purpose.

SO ORDERED.

Makasiar, Guerrero, and De Castro, JJ., concur.

Teehankee, J., (Chairman), concurs in the result in line with his separate
opinion in Mariano Basa vs. WCC, L-43098, March 30, 1981 in relation to his dissent in Biscarra
vs. RP, 95 SCRA 248.

Melencio-Herrera, J., voted to affirm the decision of the Secretary of
Labor denying the claim for reimbursement for further medical expenses of P19,818.00 after petitioner had received full compensation of
P6,000.00 for permanent total disability, and P14,194.95 as reimbursement for
medical expenses.  The grant of lifelong
medical expenses was never the intendment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act
after compensation for permanent total disability and reimbursement for medical
expenses have been received by a claimant, as further elaborated in my dissent
in Biscarra vs. Rep. Of the Phils.
(Bu. of Forestry) & WCC, 95 SCRA 248 (1980).

1 Rollo,
p. 12.

^[2]
Exhibit “A”, Rollo, p. 9.

3 Rollo,
p. 12.

4 77 SCRA 297,
300.