By HERBERT VEGO
HE did not live to see his labor case decided in his favor, but he died fighting so that his wife and children would later on benefit from it.
On a day in June 2008, seaman Jaime Mangsat signed a nine-month contract with Maine Marine Philippines to work as second officer on the overseas ship “Marine Taraba”. He thought it was a good contract because it was covered by a collective bargaining agreement that would ensure fair labor benefits; and because the ship owner was a big Japanese firm, Misuga Kaun Company.
He felt at home on board the ship, what with fellow Filipinos constituting the majority of deck officers thereat. The Filipino cook cooked good food for them.
In his sixth month on duty, however, Mangsat complained of abdominal pain. At first, he blamed the food but later realized he was wrong as the rest who had eaten the same food had not complained.
The pain had so worsened in succeeding days – especially when he was urinating – that he asked to be hospitalized on the day their vessel docked at Banjul, Gambia. The sympathetic ship captain approved his request.
Medical tests and evaluation showed that the Filipino seafarer was suffering from acute urinary bladder infection and tumor of the urinary bladder. The doctors recommended that Mangsat be repatriated for further treatment in Manila.
It was Christmas eve – December 24, 2008 – when Mangsat arrived in Manila. His family welcomed him at the airport. He was frail, pale and was in wheelchair. And so what could have been a happy Christmas party at home with his family turned out to be a gloomy hospital confinement. Buoyed by the assurance that the manning agency would shoulder the cost of all necessary hospital interventions, he underwent complete blood tests, biopsy and various x-rays. All this led his doctors to the conclusion that he had to be operated on for “Sigmoid carcinoma,” a form of cancer of urinary bladder.
When he was well enough to stay at home during his recovery period, he had his wife transact with the agency office for disability benefits amounting to US $60,000 or its peso equivalent as provided for in the contract and collective bargaining agreement.
To his dismay, the general manager of the manning agency turned down his request on the ground that his disease was not work-related; that it had been pre-existing before he boarded the ship “Marine Taraba”.
It was at this point that the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS) group of lawyers took up the cudgels for the debilitated second engineer by filing a case for recovery of permanent disability compensation before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). Head lawyer Pedro Linsangan argued that the company doctors’ claim was preposterous. Since one of these doctors was the one who had issued Mangsat a “fit to work” certification as prerequisite to boarding the vessel, how could he now say his client’s disease had been pre-existing?
Unfortunately, while the case was pending NLRC decision, Jaime Mangsat died.
Soon after his death, the NLRC ruled in his favor, ordering the respondent manning agency, Maine Marine, to pay his survivors US $60,000.
The NLRC cited, “What is important is that the facts stated in the medical report clearly constitute permanent total disability as defined by law.” Since what is merely required by law is proof that the nature of work had contributed to the aggravation of complainant’s illness, even if it had pre-existed at the time of employment, he had to be duly compensated.
Filipino seamen and their relatives may access further information on the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS) advocacy by listening to the radio program “Tribuna sang Banwa” on Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo every Sunday, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. It is hosted by Neri Camiña, who may be contacted through cellular phone number 09173288742./PN
