4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly as to his fitness to engage in sea duty or disability even after the lapse of the 120-day period and there is no indication that further medical treatment would address his temporary total disability, hence, justify an extension of the period to 240 days; (b) 240 days had lapsed without any certification issued by the company-designated physician; (c) The company-designated physician declared that he is fit for sea duty within the 120-day or 240-day period, as the case may be, but his physician of choice and the doctor chosen under Section 20-B(3) of the POEA-SEC are of a contrary opinion; (d) The company-designated physician acknowledged that he is partially permanently disabled but other doctors who he consulted, on his own and jointly with his employer, believed that his disability is not only permanent but total as well; (e) The company-designated physician recognized that he is totally and permanently disabled but there is a dispute on the disability grading; (f) The company-designated physician determined that his medical condition is not compensable or work-related under the POEASEC but his doctor-of-choice and the third doctor selected under Section 20-B(3) of the POEA-SEC found otherwise and declared him unfit to work; (g) The company-designated physician declared him totally and permanently disabled but the employer refuses to pay him the corresponding benefits; and (h) The company-designated physician declared him partially and permanently disabled within the 120-day or 240-day period but he remains incapacitated to perform his usual sea duties after the lapse of said periods. None of the foregoing circumstances is extant in this case. Records show that from the time petitioner was repatriated on February 26, 2003, 129 days had lapsed when he last consulted with the company-designated physician on July 5, 2003 and 181 days had passed on the day he last visited his physiatrist on August 26, 2003.[27] Concededly, said periods have already exceeded the 120-day period under Section 20(B) of the POEA-SEC and Article 192 of the Labor Code. However, it cannot be denied that the company-designated physician had determined[28] as early as March 5, 2003 or even before his discharge from the hospital that petitioner’s condition required further medical treatment in the form of physical therapy sessions, which he had subsequently completed per Dr. Estrada’s Memo dated July 5, 2003,[29] thus, justifying the extension of the 120-day period. The company-designated physician therefore had a period of 240 days from the time that petitioner suffered his injury or until October 24, 2003 within which to make a finding on his fitness for further sea duties or degree of disability. Consequently, despite the lapse of the 120-day period, petitioner was still considered to be under a state of temporary total disability at the time he filed his complaint on August 29, 2003, 184 days from the date of his medical repatriation which is wellelibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55346 4/7