Wallem Maritime Services, Inc. vs. Pedrajas

An employer may be exempt from paying death compensation benefits to a seaman's heirs by proving that the seaman committed suicide, a death resulting from his willful act under Section 20(D) of the POEA-SEC, and the employer bears that burden; a categorical autopsy report of a medical examiner who personally examined the body and the scene prevails over findings of other agencies that homicide "cannot be totally ruled out."

Wallem Maritime Services, Inc. is a domestic corporation licensed to engage in the manning business, Wallem Shipmanagement Limited is its foreign principal, and Reginaldo Oben is its President. The death compensation regime invoked by the parties is supplied by the POEA Standard Employment Contract and the AMOSUP-CBA, both of which the petitioners claim exclude deaths arising from a seafarer's willful act.

In 2004, Wallem Maritime Services, Inc. hired Hernani Pedrajas as an Engine Boy on board the M/V Crown Jade under a contract of employment with Wallem Shipmanagement Limited as foreign principal. In March 2005, while that contract was still in effect and the vessel was in Italy, Hernani was found hanging on the Upper Deck B of the vessel with a rope tied around his neck.

Donnabelle Pedrajas, his spouse, was informed that her husband had hanged himself and was found dead on board, and that the Italian Government was conducting its own investigation into the death. Hernani's body was repatriated to the Philippines in April 2005. Suspecting foul play, Donnabelle sought the assistance of the PNP Crime Laboratory to conduct a forensic examination on the remains and asked the NBI to investigate the cause of death. Both agencies concluded that homicide could not be totally ruled out. The PNP Crime Laboratory report, however, carried the examiner's own caveat that his knowledge of the case was limited because he had no police report and no autopsy report done in Italy, no pictures of the crime scene, the cord or rope, the type of knot, or the position of the body when found, and that he had only the body and the verbal information given by Hernani's wife and sister; on those materials he stated that he could not totally rule out homicide. The NBI, for its part, conducted no autopsy at all and based its opinion on documents submitted to it and information coming solely from Hernani's relatives, its Medico-Legal Officer likewise opining that homicide cannot be totally ruled out.

In June 2005, Donnabelle, as beneficiary of Hernani, filed a claim for death compensation benefits under the POEA Standard Employment Contract and the AMOSUP-CBA, and demanded attorney's fees, moral and exemplary damages. Petitioners resisted on the ground that Hernani's death was self-inflicted and therefore outside the coverage of death benefits under both instruments, asserting that he had been involved in drug smuggling and, fearing arrest and the shame it would bring his family, took his own life. In support they submitted an authenticated Forensic Report released by the Medical Examiner in Italy, which stated that Hernani committed suicide by hanging himself and recorded that the autopsy found him positive for cocaine. The report noted that the necroscopic investigation disclosed no other forms of injuries on the body and viscera, indicating that he suffered no physical violence before the hanging; that flakes of white paint on the palms of both hands matched the paint on the gangway, the banister, and the pipe where the rope was fixed; and that no elements emerged suggesting that third parties may have intervened in causing the death, the manner of it conforming to suicide.

When Hernani's lifeless body was found hanging, the Italian authorities recovered two suicide notes, one addressed to his wife and the other to the vessel's crew. The note to his wife stated that he had killed himself because he was implicated in a drug syndicate and did not want to be jailed for the rest of his life. The second note led to the arrest of Deck Boy Joseph Harder, who admitted his participation in the drug dealing operation, and it pointed the Italian authorities to where the remaining cocaine and the proceeds of its illegal sale were hidden on board the vessel. Before the Labor Arbiter, petitioners presented photocopies of the two notes rather than the originals, explaining that the originals were in the possession of the Italian authorities as part of the evidence in their investigation and would not be released until a final determination in those proceedings. The Labor Arbiter compared the handwriting and the terminologies used in the suicide notes with those in the letters submitted by the complainants and found them identical, concluding that the author of both was one and the same person, Hernani.

• Willful Act as Exempting Cause: Petitioners argued that they have no obligation to pay death benefits to Hernani's heirs because his death was self-inflicted and therefore exempted from the coverage of death benefits under the POEA-SEC and the AMOSUP-CBA, which both provide that a death arising from a willful act is not compensable.
• Evidence Conclusively Pointing to Suicide: Petitioners argued that the CA erred in failing to consider and give credence to the several pieces of evidence and circumstances that conclusively point to suicide — the authenticated Forensic Report of the Italian Medical Examiner stating that Hernani hanged himself, the finding of cocaine in his system, and the two suicide notes, the first explaining that he was implicated in a drug syndicate and did not want to be jailed for life, and the second leading to the arrest of Deck Boy Joseph Harder and to the recovery of the hidden cocaine and its proceeds.
• Absence of Work-Relation: Petitioners argued that no proof whatsoever was presented to show that Hernani's death is related in any manner to his work on board the vessel.

• Photocopies of the Suicide Notes: Respondents alleged that since the original copies of the suicide notes were not presented and only photocopies were offered, the same should not be considered by the SC.

• Suicide as Exempting Ground: Whether Hernani committed suicide during the term of his employment contract, which would exempt petitioners from paying death compensation benefits to his beneficiaries.
• Evidentiary Weight of the Suicide Notes: Whether the photocopies of the suicide notes should be disregarded for failure to present the originals.

• Suicide as Exempting Ground: Yes. Petitioners proved that Hernani committed suicide, a willful act that under Section 20(D) of the POEA-SEC bars the payment of compensation and benefits and exempts the employer from liability.
• Evidentiary Weight of the Suicide Notes: No. NLRC proceedings are not covered by the technical rules of evidence, and petitioners satisfactorily explained why the originals could not be produced, so the photocopies were properly considered.

• Suicide as Exempting Ground: Section 20(D) of the POEA-SEC provides that no compensation and benefits shall be payable in respect of any injury, incapacity, disability or death of a seafarer resulting from his willful or criminal act or intentional breach of his duties. The death of a seaman during the term of his employment makes the employer liable to the former's heirs for death compensation benefits, but the rule is not absolute: the employer may be exempt if it can successfully prove that the seaman's death was caused by an injury directly attributable to his deliberate or willful act, and the burden of proof rests on the employer. Here the Italian Medical Examiner found no other forms of injuries on the body and viscera, which allowed him to retain that Pedrajas suffered no physical violence before the hanging and hung himself of his own accord; the flakes of white paint on the palms of both hands, the same as on the gangway, the banister and the pipe where the rope was fixed, confirmed that Pedrajas himself tied the rope to the metal pipe; and no elements emerged such as would lead to a belief that third parties intervened, the manner of death conforming to suicide. The CA erred in refusing to credit that report on the strength of the PNP and NBI findings. The PNP Crime Laboratory itself admitted that its knowledge of the case was limited — it had no police report and no autopsy report from Italy, no pictures of the crime scene, the rope, the type of knot, or the position of the body, and only the body and verbal information from the victim's wife and sister — and could only say that it could not totally rule out homicide. The NBI conducted no autopsy at all and based its opinion on documents and information coming solely from Hernani's relatives. Following Maritime Factors, Inc. vs. Hindang, which gave credence to the medical report of the Saudi Arabian doctor who immediately conducted the autopsy on the seafarer's body, the SC relied on the Italian Medical Examiner, who was not merely limited to the autopsy but personally and carefully examined the place immediately after the incident and had the benefit of investigating the crime scene, the rope used for hanging, the type of knot, and the temperature and position of the body when found. The report of the Italian Medical Examiner was thus more categorical and definite than the uncertain findings of the PNP and NBI that homicide cannot be totally ruled out. With suicide established, Hernani's death is not compensable and his heirs are not entitled to any compensation or benefits, it being settled that when the death of a seaman resulted from a deliberate or willful act on his own life, and is directly attributable to the seaman, such death is not compensable.
• Evidentiary Weight of the Suicide Notes: The CA refused to appreciate the notes on the ground that petitioners failed to prove they were written by Hernani, and respondents pressed the same objection because only photocopies were presented. The objection fails. Proceedings before the NLRC are not covered by the technical rules of evidence and procedure observed in the regular courts, and the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC are directed to use every and all reasonable means to ascertain the facts in each case speedily and objectively, without regard to technicalities of law and procedure, in the interest of substantial justice. The Labor Arbiter therefore need not resort to the technical rules of evidence to ascertain whether the notes were written by Hernani; comparing the handwriting and the terminologies used in the suicide notes with those in the letters submitted by the complainants, he found them identical and concluded that the author of both was one and the same person, and the CA should have considered these pieces of evidence as explaining why Hernani took his life. Petitioners also explained why the originals were not presented: the notes were in the possession of the Italian authorities as part of the evidence in their investigation and would not be released until a final determination in those proceedings. Their failure to submit the original copies is thus not a ground for disregarding the notes. Their credibility and authenticity are in any event beyond doubt, since the statements contained in them led to the investigation and arrest of Deck Boy Harder, who confessed to his participation in the drug operations, and eventually led the Italian authorities to where the remaining cocaine and the proceeds were hidden on board the vessel; that the information proved useful to the Italian authorities lends more credence to their genuineness and truthfulness, and leads to the conclusion that the notes were written by no other person except Hernani.

• Willful Act Exception to Death Benefits — The death of a seaman during the term of his employment makes the employer liable for death compensation benefits, but the employer is exempt if it proves that the death was caused by an injury directly attributable to the seaman's deliberate or willful act. Section 20(D) of the POEA-SEC states the rule: no compensation and benefits are payable for any injury, incapacity, disability or death of a seafarer resulting from his willful or criminal act or intentional breach of his duties. Suicide is such a willful act, and the SC applied the exception to wipe out the NLRC and CA awards.
• Burden of Proof on the Employer — It is not the seaman's heirs who must disprove suicide; the employer must successfully prove it to escape liability. The SC framed the entire case as turning on whether petitioners' evidence sufficed to prove that Hernani committed suicide, with the burden resting on his employer.
• Preference for the Contemporaneous Autopsy Report — Where medical findings conflict, credence goes to the physician who conducted the autopsy immediately after death and personally examined the body and the scene, over examiners who worked from incomplete records or from information supplied by relatives. The SC applied this by preferring the Italian Medical Examiner — who saw the crime scene, the rope, the knot, and the position of the body — over the PNP Crime Laboratory, which admitted it had none of these, and the NBI, which conducted no autopsy at all.
• Insufficiency of a "Cannot Totally Rule Out" Finding — An opinion that homicide "cannot be totally ruled out" is uncertain and cannot overcome a categorical finding of suicide; the SC described the PNP and NBI reports as disclosing that both agencies were unsure whether homicide or suicide was the cause of death.
• Liberal Rules of Evidence in NLRC Proceedings — Technical rules of evidence and procedure observed in the regular courts do not govern NLRC proceedings, and labor adjudicators are directed to use every reasonable means to ascertain the facts speedily and objectively in the interest of substantial justice. Under this doctrine the SC sustained the admission of photocopied suicide notes where the non-production of the originals was satisfactorily explained.

• "No compensation and benefits shall be payable in respect of any injury, incapacity, disability or death of a seafarer resulting from his willful or criminal act or intentional breach of his duties x x x." — The text of Section 20(D) of the POEA-SEC, the provision on which the entire exemption rests and which the SC held applicable to a death by suicide.
• "The death of a seaman during the term of his employment makes the employer liable to the former's heirs for death compensation benefits. This rule, however, is not absolute. 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." — The SC's formulation of the general rule and its exception, together with the allocation of the burden of proof to the employer.
• "Apparent from the foregoing, the report of the Italian Medical Examiner, which stated that Hernani committed suicide is more categorical and definite than the uncertain findings of the PNP Crime Laboratory and the NBI that homicide cannot be totally ruled out." — The core evidentiary holding, weighing the conflicting medical findings and explaining why the CA's reliance on the PNP and NBI reports was misplaced.
• "It is settled that proceedings before the NLRC are not covered by the technical rules of evidence and procedure as observed in the regular courts." — The doctrinal basis for admitting the photocopied suicide notes notwithstanding the best evidence objection.

• NFD Int'l. Manning Agents vs. NLRC, 348 Phil. 264, 273 (1998) — Controlling precedent for the rule that the death of a seaman during the term of employment makes the employer liable, but that the employer may be exempt if it proves the death was caused by an injury directly attributable to the seaman's deliberate or willful act.
• Lapid vs. NLRC, 366 Phil. 10, 17 (1999) — Cited for the allocation of the burden of proof: it is the employer who must establish the willful act, not the heirs who must disprove it.
• Maritime Factors, Inc. vs. Hindang, G.R. No. 151993, October 19, 2011, 659 SCRA 526 — Followed; the SC gave credence to the medical report of the doctor who conducted the autopsy immediately after the seafarer's death, a ruling applied by analogy to prefer the Italian Medical Examiner's report over the PNP and NBI findings.
• Mabuhay Shipping Services, Inc. vs. NLRC (1st Div.), 271 Phil. 142, 146 (1991) — Controlling precedent for the conclusion that when the death of a seaman resulted from a deliberate or willful act on his own life, and is directly attributable to him, such death is not compensable.

• Section 20(D), POEA Standard Employment Contract — Provides that no compensation and benefits shall be payable in respect of any injury, incapacity, disability or death of a seafarer resulting from his willful or criminal act or intentional breach of his duties. Applied to hold that Hernani's suicide, being a willful act directly attributable to him, removed the death from the coverage of death benefits and exempted petitioners from liability.
• AMOSUP-CBA — The collective bargaining agreement under which Donnabelle also claimed death benefits; the SC treated it, together with the POEA-SEC, as containing the same exemption for deaths arising from a willful act, and denied the claim under both instruments.