8/27/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly In Talaroc v. Arpaphil Shipping Corporation,[79] this Court has outlined the companydesignated physician's duty to issue a final medical assessment of seafarers and the significance of the 120-day and 240-day period: 1. The company-designated physician must issue a final medical assessment on the seafarer's disability grading within a period of 120 days from the time the seafarer reported to him; 2. If the company-designated physician fails to give his assessment within the period of 120 days, without any justifiable reason, then the seafarer's disability becomes permanent and total; 3. If the company-designated physician fails to give his assessment within the period of 120 days with a sufficient justification (e.g., seafarer required further medical treatment or seafarer was uncooperative), then the period of diagnosis and treatment shall be extended to 240 days. The employer has the burden to prove that the company-designated physician has sufficient justification to extend the period; and 4. If the company-designated physician still fails to give his assessment within the extended period of 240 days, then the seafarer's disability becomes permanent and total, regardless of any justification.[80] (Citation omitted) The POEA Standard Employment Contract provides that the disability is based on the schedule provided, not on the duration of the seafarer's treatment. Section 20(A)(6) is clear: In case of permanent total or partial disability of the seafarer caused by either injury or illness the seafarer shall be compensated in accordance with the schedule of benefits enumerated in Section 32 of his Contract. Computation of his benefits arising from an illness or disease shall be governed by the rates and the rules of compensation applicable at the time the illness or disease was contracted. The disability shall be based solely on the disability gradings provided under Section 32 of this Contract, and shall not be measured or determined by the number of days a seafarer is under treatment or the number of days in which sickness allowance is paid. (Emphasis supplied) However, this Court has clarified that this provision does not disregard the seafarer's period of treatment. A presumption that the seafarer is totally and permanently disabled will still arise "if after the lapse of 240 days, the seafarer is still incapacitated to perform his usual sea duties and the company-designated physician has not made any assessment at all (whether the seafarer is fit to work or whether his permanent disability is partial or total)[.]"[81] Further, this Court has held that a temporary total disability becomes permanent when the company-designated physician declares it "within the periods he [or she] is allowed to do so, or upon the expiration of the maximum 240-day medical treatment period https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65396 10/20