8/27/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly without a declaration of either fitness to work or the existence of a permanent disability."[82] After the 240-day period has lapsed, the disability becomes total and permanent. Kestrel Shipping Company, Inc. v. Munar[83] has affirmed this rule: A seafarer's compliance with such procedure presupposes that the companydesignated physician came up with an assessment as to his fitness or unfitness to work before the expiration of the 120-day or 240-day periods. Alternatively put, absent a certification from the company-designated physician, the seafarer had nothing to contest and the law steps in to conclusively characterize (Emphasis supplied) his disability as total and permanent.[84] IV Here, Dr. Cruz-Balbon, the company-designated physician, found that petitioner was suffering from a Grade 8 disability, which is classified as a temporary, partial disability. Skeptical with the findings, petitioner consulted Dr. Reyes-Paguia and, eventually, Dr. Raymundo, who certified that petitioner's condition would no longer allow him to work as a seafarer. Afterward, petitioner filed the Complaint for permanent disability benefits. Petitioner failed to signify his intention to resolve the conflicting assessments of the company-designated physician and his chosen physicians. After consulting Dr. Raymundo, he did not submit the conflicting findings to a third doctor. Instead, he immediately filed the claim for permanent disability benefits. Clearly, petitioner failed to comply with the mandatory rule on referral to a third doctor. On the other hand, respondents also failed to discharge their duty. Petitioner claims that they did not inform him that the company-designated physician has already issued an assessment. Respondents did not dispute his contention that he was never furnished copies of the disability assessment, and that only after filing the Complaint did he become aware of it. Absent a final, definite disability assessment from a company-designated physician, the mandatory rule on a third doctor referral will not apply here. When petitioner learned of Dr. Cruz-Balbon's assessment during the submission of the position papers before the Labor Arbiter, the prescribed 240-day period had already lapsed. Based on the records, petitioner immediately submitted himself to the company-designated physician's examination on October 7, 2012.[85] He later filed the Complaint after his chosen physician, Dr. Raymundo, had issued the Medical Certificate on July 19, 2013.[86] It is unclear when petitioner filed the Complaint or when the position papers were received. Nonetheless, even if this Court will only consider the date of issuance of the last Medical Certificate, a total of 285 days had already lapsed from October 7, 2012 to July 19, 2013, which is beyond the period allowed by the law. Hence, petitioner cannot be faulted for not referring the assessment to a third doctor at the time he filed his Complaint. There was no medical assessment from a companyhttps://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65396 11/20