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G.R. No. 128523 September 28, 1998
GOVERNMENT SERVICE, INSURANCE SYSTEM, petitioner, 
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, and ZENAIDA LIWANAG, respondents.

FACTS:

                        Zenaida Liwanag, the surviving spouse of the late P/Sr. Supt. Jaime          Liwanag who died of  Upper GI Bleeding, Cirrhosis Secondary to Hepatitis B;        Hepatocellular Carcinoma on September 14, 1994, He was forty-eight (48) years       old and had served the police force for seventeen (17) years.

                        The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) denied Zenaida           Liwanag for compensation benefits on the death of her husband, because         it was not an occupational disease. Under the law, PD No. 626, neither was the risk of       contracting the ailment of the deceased increased by his employment as a     member of the police force.

                        An appealed decision entitled Zenaida Liwanag to the death            benefits          under Presidential Decree No. 626 the compensation benefits of her husband.  But Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) seeks to           reverse the decision            of the Court of Appeals granting its private respondent of the compensation             benefits under PD No. 626.

ISSUE:

                        Was there any doubt in construction and interpretation of social legislation           statutes in the field of administrative law while strict rules of evidence are not applicable to quasi-judicial proceedings which would have favor of  the working man and woman in light of the Constitution's social justice policy?

SC RULING:

                        The Employees Compensation Commission’s (ECC's) rejection of             private respondent's claim was not unfounded.  In fact, it even took the pains to   quote from a medical manual in order to substantiate its holding. This is one instance when, pursuant to prudence and judicial restraint, a     tribunal's zeal in       bestowing compassion should have yielded to the precept in administrative           law that in absence of grave abuse of discretion, courts are loathe to          interfere with and should respect the findings of quasi-  judicial agencies in fields where they are deemed and held to be experts    due to their special technical         knowledge and training. 

                        WHEREFORE, the instant petition is GRANTED and the decision   of         respondent Court of Appeals dated 26 February 1997 in CA G.R. SP No. 41976            is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE and the decision of the Employees'           Compensation Commission dated 27 December 1995 in ECC Case No. 7633 is     hereby REINSTATED.

                        No pronouncement as to costs.

           

                        SO ORDERED.