To my fellow DepEd colleagues — please, take care of your health.
Many of you know my story. Almost a year ago, I was struck down by a stroke. It happened right after a MATATAG training in QC. I went home with a slurred tongue and a strange heaviness in my chest. I tried to open my laptop to tell my supervisors I couldn’t attend the next training in Baguio because something felt wrong… but my left fingers would no longer obey. I couldn’t type. I couldn’t control my own hand.
My wife rushed me to Gat Andres Bonifacio Hospital in Tondo. After CT scans and emergency procedures, I spent fourteen long days confined. I came out partially disabled. My left hand and leg felt like they belonged to a stranger. Every day, I cried quietly, asking myself: How did I end up here?
Diabetes, stress, poor eating habits, and sleepless nights finishing reports — all the things we shrug off as "part of the job" — had finally caught up with me. The once strong and fiery "Lito-san" felt like a broken shell.
I filed for leave with pay for eight months, using the service credits I had accumulated over 33 years in DepEd. At the time, I couldn’t even hold a pen, let alone teach. But through therapy, prayer, and sheer stubbornness, I started recovering. When my neurologist finally gave me the green light, I returned to work as a "one-hand machine." My superiors spared me from heavy tasks — maybe out of kindness, maybe out of respect for my decades of service. I was simply grateful to be back.
Then came the heartbreak.
I had prepared every document for my Employees’ Compensation (EC) claim, hoping for support for my partial disability. But GSIS denied it. They ruled that my condition was not work-related. As you can see in the attached letter, they state that "Diabetes Mellitus is a lifestyle disease," and therefore, my stroke is not compensable.
I appealed. I hoped for reconsideration. But the verdict remains: Denied.
I was stunned. I was devastated. The sadness settled is heavier than the stroke itself.
Lesson learned: Take care of your body. Guard your health like your life depends on it — because it truly does. Don’t let stress and overwork steal your future the way it almost stole mine.
Stay healthy, mga kasama. We give so much to the service — please, don’t forget to save something for yourself.
