4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly familiarity of petitioner’s medical condition. This enabled the company-designated physician to arrive at a more accurate prognosis of petitioner’s disability as compared to other physicians not privy to petitioner’s case from the beginning. It has been held that the doctor who have had a personal knowledge of the actual medical condition, having closely, meticulously and regularly monitored and actually treated the seaman’s illness, is more qualified to assess the seaman’s disability.[34] On the other hand, the medical reports of Dr. Vicaldo and Dr. Caja were issued after petitioner consulted each of them only once. Clearly, said physicians did not have the chance to closely monitor petitioner’s illness. Moreover, Dr. Vicaldo’s evaluation of petitioner’s illness was unsupported by any proof or basis. While he diagnosed petitioner to be suffering from “Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease, Concentric Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Lateral Wall Ischemic” and suggested an “Impediment Grade V (58-96%),” no justification for such assessment was provided for in the medical certificate he issued. Similarly, Dr. Caja’s medical report contained no supporting proof but was rather based on the findings of past examinations done by the companydesignated physician, as well as on the statements supplied to her by the petitioner. In Coastal Safety Marine Services Inc. v. Esguerra,[35] this Court brushed aside the medical certifications upon which the seaman therein anchored his claim for disability benefits for being unsupported by diagnostic tests and procedures as would effectively dispute the results of the medical examination earlier made upon him in a foreign clinic referred by his employer. Likewise significant is the fact that it took petitioner more than a year before disputing the declaration of fitness to work by the company-designated physician. Petitioner filed a claim for disability benefit on the basis of Dr. Vicaldo and Dr. Caja’s medical certifications which were issued after five and 10 months, respectively, from the company-designated physician’s declaration of fit to work. Unfortunately, apart from the reasons already stated, these certifications could not be given any credence as petitioner’s health condition could have changed during the interim period due to different factors such as petitioner’s poor compliance with his medications as in fact mentioned by Dr. Caja in the medical certificate she issued. As such, the said medical certifications cannot effectively controvert the fit to work assessment earlier made. The Court has previously rejected a medical report by a physician on this ground in Cadornigara v. National Labor Relations Commission,[36] wherein it was ruled that: x x x. It is noted that petitioner took six months before disputing the finding of Dr. Cruz by filing a complaint for disability benefits. Worse, in his complaint, petitioner averred that he continued to undergo therapy and medication even after Dr. Cruz certified him fit to work. Yet, petitioner did not secure from the doctors who administered such therapy and medication a certification that would contradict that of Dr. Cruz. Rather, he waited another month to manifest to the LA that he be examined by a government doctor. Such request is not reasonable. As we observed in Sarocam v. Interorient Maritime Ent. Inc., it makes no sense to compare the certification of a company-designated physician with that of an employee-appointed elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/54687 9/12