This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2003-07-08 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
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| The case of Tria v. Employees Compensation Commission,[21] where we denied a claim for conversion of disability benefits, is not applicable to the instant case. The claim therein, which was filed 4 years after the employee's retirement, refers to a claim for conversion of a previously granted disability benefit from permanent partial to permanent total on the ground of an alleged recurring illness. The case at bar, however, neither concerns a recurring illness previously compensated, nor a claim for additional/conversion of disability benefits, but involves a review of the ECC decision which classified respondent's early-retirement-causing disability as permanent partial instead of permanent total. As to the decisions[22] of the Court of Appeals cited by petitioner as authorities, it must be stressed that judicial decisions which form part of our legal system are only the decisions of the Supreme Court. While rulings of the Court of Appeals may serve as precedents for lower courts, they only apply to points of law not covered by any Supreme Court decision.[23] This is not, however, the case here, considering that the legal issue presented is already laid to rest by settled jurisprudence. Significantly, one of the Court of Appeals' cases cited by petitioner - Ijares v. Employees Compensation Commission (CA-G.R. SP No. 26910, April 13, 1992) was reversed by this Court on August 26, 1999, in G.R. No. 105854. There, we held that the early retirement of an employee at the age of 60 by reason of a work-related illness justifies the award of permanent total disability benefits. | |||||