SUPREME COURT OF THE PHILIPPINES / STOCK
The Supreme Court decision that granted a seafarer’s disability claims regardless of an undisclosed preexisting health condition is a landmark ruling in favor of “lowly workers,” according to the Federation of Free Workers (FFW).
“This clarification on the non-disclosure of preexisting illnesses is unprecedented as it has no prior analogues in the long line of Supreme Court decisions,” said FFW president and labor lawyer Sonny Matula.
FFW said it took Loue Mutia almost nine years since the decision of the labor arbiter in 2014 to secure his benefit.
“This lengthy process is one of the main reasons why FFW and many seafarers’ unions are strongly objecting to the escrow provision on execution in the proposed Magna Carta for Seafarers,” Matula said.
He was referring to the provision approved by the House of Representatives but pending in the Senate stating that the monetary award for a sick or deceased seafarer should be deposited in an escrow account until a final decision from a “reviewing court.”