4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Philippine laws. If the 120 days initial period is exceeded and no such declaration is made because the seafarer requires further medical attention, then the temporary total disability period may be extended up to a maximum of 240 days, subject to the right of the employer to declare within this period that a permanent partial or total disability already exists. The seaman may of course also be declared fit to work at any time such declaration is justified by his medical condition. xxx As we outlined above, a temporary total disability only becomes permanent when so declared by the company physician within the periods he is allowed to do so, or upon the expiration of the maximum 240-day medical treatment period without a declaration of either fitness to work or the existence of a permanent disability. To be sure, there is one Labor Code concept of permanent total disability, as stated in Article 192(c)(1) of the Labor Code, as amended, and the ECC Rules. We also note that the first paragraph of Section 20(B)(3) of the 2000 POEA Standard Employment Contract was lifted verbatim from the first paragraph of Section 20(B)(3) of the 1996 POEA Standard Employment Contract, to wit: Upon sign-off from the vessel for medical treatment, the seafarer is entitled to sickness allowance equivalent to his basic wage until he is declared fit to work or the degree of permanent disability has been assessed by the company-designated physician, but in no case shall this period exceed one hundred twenty (120) days. [Emphasis supplied] In said Magsaysay Maritime Corp. case, the employee (Oberto Lobusta) was eventually awarded the maximum disability benefit of $60,000.00. Applying the Vergara case, the Court ruled that he was suffering from permanent total disability because the maximum 240-day (8 months) medical treatment period expired with no declaration from the attending physician that he was already fit to work. Neither was there a declaration that Lobusta was afflicted with a permanent disability. From May 22, 1998, his initial examination, to February 16, 1999, when he was still prescribed medications for his lumbosacral pain and was even advised to return for reevaluation, the number of days would be 264 days or 6 days short of 9 months,[18] way beyond the prescribed 240 day period. In contrast, in the case at bench, two days after repatriation on March 17, 2005, Santiago underwent several tests and treatment. On April 8, 2005, a neurologist conducted EMG/NCV on him. On August 13, Dr. Lim, the company-designated physician, opined that he was suffering from a “Grade 12” disability only, not a permanent total one. Counting the days from March 17 to August 13, this assessment by Dr. Lim was made on the 148th day, more or less, and, therefore, within the 240elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/54764 7/10