Payments in a lump sum.
Section 22
SEC. 22. Payments in a lump sum.—Whenever the parties consider it most advantageous and convenient, the liability of the employer as regards the compensation may be discharged totally or in part by payment in a lump sum or sums: Provided, however, That any agreement or contract made for this purpose between the parties shall not be valid unless it be in the form of a public document acknowledged before the justice of the peace of the locality and attested by two witnesses, one of whom shall be the municipal treasurer or the person acting in his stead if the accident occurred outside the City of Manila; and if in the City of Manila, before a duly authorized notary public, attested likewise by two witnesses, one of whom shall be the Director of the Bureau of Labor or his representative. Before the acknowledgment of the instrument, the justice of the peace or notary public, as the case may be, shall fully inform the injured laborer or dependent persons or persons executing the instrument in his stead, of all their rights and privileges under this Act, reading and translating to them into the vernacular dialect they know, in case they do not understand English or Spanish, the provisions of this Act establishing the amounts and periods of compensation and other privileges to which they are entitled by reason of the accident, and shall certify in the acknowledgment clause that all these requisites have been complied with. The expense of the acknowledgment of the contract shall be borne by the employer. The justice of the peace or notary public, as the case may be, shall forward a certified copy of the contract to the Bureau of Labor in Manila for file. Any failure on the part of the employer to comply with his obligation to pay any of the sums due to the injured laborer or his dependents in accordance with this Act, shall entitle the beneficiary to claim the entire balance of the compensation at one time.