- Petitioner
- Arcadia Vistal
- Respondent
- Employees' Compensation Commission
- Citation
- G.R. No. 79009
- Court
- Supreme Court
- Division
- First Division
- Ponente
- Medialdea, J.
- Decided
- July 20, 1990
Summary
Retired elementary teacher Arcadia Vistal successfully claimed workers' compensation for work-related ailments (pulmonary tuberculosis, essential hypertension, and rheumatoid arthritis) contracted in 1973. The Employees' Compensation Commission initially dismissed her 1983 claim as time-barred, but the Supreme Court reversed, ruling that her claim under the old Workmen's Compensation Act was timely filed within the ten-year prescriptive period. The Court held that her ailments were compensable as work-related conditions for a teacher, applying the principle of presumption of compensability. The Department of Education, Culture and Sports was ordered to pay P6,000 maximum compensation plus attorney's fees and costs. The case establishes important precedent on the applicability of the old Workmen's Compensation Act for ailments contracted before 1975 and the prescriptive period for such claims.