DECISION
CARPIO MORALES, J.
Jerry M. Francisco (petitioner) entered into a shipboard employment
contract on April 5, 2004 with respondent Bahia Shipping Services, Inc. (Bahia
Shipping) to work for its co-respondent foreign principal Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Ltd. as ordinary seaman on board the ocean-going vessel M/S Black Prince for a
period of nine (9) months, with a monthly guaranteed pay of US$467.00, inclusive
of basic salary, fixed overtime and leave pay.1[1] This was the fourth contract of
petitioner with respondents since May 2002.2[2]
On April 20, 2004, petitioner went through the mandatory Pre-Employment
Medical Examination (PEME) with Maritime Clinic for International Services,
Inc., (the Clinic) which noted that he was repatriated in January 2004 while serving
under a previous contract with respondents due to a Generalized Tonic-Clonic
Type Seizure Disorder which was possibly alcohol-induced;3[3] that during the
repatriation, petitioner was treated from January 9, 2004 up to January 30, 2004 by
the company-designated physician Dr. Robert Lim (Dr. Lim) who assessed him “to
1[1]
National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) records, p.3.
2[2]
Id. at 171.
3[3]
Id. at 173.