The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) represented by Deputy Executive Director Atty.Jonathan Villasoto provided valuable insights and information on the Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) during the Disability Evaluation Forum: A Case Digest organized by the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM) Baguio-Benguet Chapter in collaboration with the Negros Occidental Chapter in August 2021.
More than a hundred PCOM members nationwide participated the forum, where the conditions on work-related illnesses were thoroughly discussed.
Deputy Executive Director Villasoto specifically discussed the basic principles on the compensability of sickness or injury under the Employees’ Compensation Law. He emphasized that non-inclusion of illness in the list of occupational illness does not mean that it is no longer compensable under the EC Program, as one can still prove its compensability under the “Increased Risk Theory” of PD 626, as amended.
Villasoto said that the ECC has included covid19 in the list of occupational and work-related diseases. Thus, covid19 is compensable to healthcare workers and other frontline personnel. He stressed the importance of tracing the cause of the infection through the possible place of exposure to covid19, either at the work place or if it occurred while commuting to and from work.
A physician and a member of the Baguio-Benguet Chapter of PCOM discussed the merits of an actual case where it aimed to identify challenges encountered in claiming for compensation in work-related contingencies, especially on how physicians would respond and take action to assist their clients.
PCOM has been accredited by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as a training institution to conduct Basic Course on Occupational Medicine (BCOM) for doctors and dentists. It is also mandated by DOLE for those providing health services in all workplaces nationwide.
