THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On April 4, 2000, petitioner was hired by respondent Hammonia
Maritime Services, Inc. (Hammonia) for its foreign principal, respondent
Atlantic Marine Ltd., (Atlantic Marine). He was assigned to work on board the
vessel British Valour under contract for nine months, with a basic monthly
salary of US$ 642.00.
The petitioner was a member of the Associated Marine Officers and
Seamans Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP). AMOSUP had a collective
bargaining agreement (CBA) with Atlantic Marine, represented in this case by
Hammonia.
The petitioner left the Philippines on April 15, 2000 to rendezvous with
his ship and to carry out therein his work as a pumpman. In August 2000, while
attending to a defective hydraulic valve, he felt he was losing his vision. He
complained to the Ship Captain that he was seeing black dots and hairy figures
floating in front of his right eye. His condition developed into a gradual visual
loss. The ships medical log entered his condition as internal bleeding in the eye
or glaucoma.[4] He was given eye drops to treat his condition.
The petitioner went on furlough in Port Galveston, Texas and consulted a
physician who diagnosed him to be suffering from vitreal hemorrhage with
small defined area of retinal traction. Differential diagnosis includes incomplete
vitreal detachment ruptured macro aneurism and valsulva retinopathy.[5] He was
advised to see an ophthalmologist when he returned home to the Philippines.
He was sent home on September 5, 2000 for medical treatment. The
company-designated physician, Dr. Robert D. Lim of the Marine Medical
Services of the Metropolitan Hospital, confirmed the correctness of the
diagnosis at Port Galveston, Texas. Dr. Lim then referred the petitioner to an
ophthalmologist at the Chinese General Hospital who subjected the petitioners
eye to focal laser treatment on November 13, 2000; vitrectomy with fluid gas
exchange on December 7, 2000; and a second session of focal laser treatment
on January 13, 2001.