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702 Phil. 717
FIRST DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 198501, January 30, 2013 ]
KESTREL SHIPPING CO., INC./ CAPT. AMADOR P. SERVILLON AND
ATLANTIC MANNING LTD., PETITIONERS, VS. FRANCISCO D.
MUNAR, RESPONDENT.
DECISION
REYES, J.:
This is a petition for review on certiorari assailing the Decision[1] dated January 28,
2011 and Resolution[2] dated September 6, 2011 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CAG.R. SP No. 110878.
The facts leading to the filing of this petition are undisputed.
On March 23, 2006, petitioner Kestrel Shipping, Inc. (Kestrel), on behalf of its principal,
petitioner Atlantic Manning, Ltd., and respondent Francisco Munar (Munar) forged a six
(6)-month employment contract designating Munar as pump man for M/V Southern
Unity. As pump man, his duties include: (a) operating, maintaining and repairing
power-driven pumps, valves and related machinery; (b) transferring materials to and
from vessels and terminal storages; (c) transferring liquids by siphoning; (d) installing
hoses and pipes between pumps and containers that require filling or emptying; (e)
maintenance of pump rooms and similar spaces; (f) assisting in the cleaning of tanks,
crude oil washing, gas inerting, purging of tanks and wage sampling of cargo; (g)
checking and recording cargo temperature; and (h) operating tank heating equipment.
[3]
On October 12, 2006, after Munar assisted in manually lifting the ship’s anchor
windlass motor that weighs about 350 kilograms, he started to limp and experience
severe pain in his lumbar region. On October 18, 2006, Munar was admitted at the
Entabeni Hospital in Durban, South Africa. According to his attending physician, Dr.
Soma T. Govender (Dr. Govender), the x-ray and magnetic resonant image (MRI) of
Munar’s lumbar spine showed degenerative changes, which required him to take pain
medication, use pelvic traction, and undergo physiotherapy. In his medical report4
dated October 19, 2006, Dr. Govender stated that:
I arranged for him to have lumbar spine x-rays and this showed that he had
degenerative changes especially of the lower lumbar spine in the L3/4 and
L5/S1 region with degenerative changes noted bilaterally. I proceeded to do
a MRI of the lumbar spine to exclude an acute prolapsed disc and this
confirmed degenerative changes of the lumbar spine extending from the
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