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Constantino accepted and concurred with a Certificate of Fitness for Work.[10]
Despite these developments, Constantino engaged the services of a lawyer to claim
disability compensation from the petitioners and, to explore a possible settlement with
them.[11] On May 31, 2003, Constantino consulted a physician of his choice, Dr.
Marciano Almeda (Dr. Almeda), an occupational medicine and orthopedics specialist.
Dr. Almeda assessed Constantino to have suffered from permanent partial disability
with a Grade 11 impediment under the POEA Standard Employment Contract (POEASEC) and declared him unfit for further sea duties.[12] The petitioners denied the
claim, prompting Constantino to file on June 12, 2003 a complaint for disability
benefits, illness allowance, reimbursement of medical expenses, damages and
attorney’s fees against them.
Constantino alleged before the labor arbiter that despite the treatment given to him by
the company-designated physicians, his ailment had not improved. He claimed that his
back pain continued. He argued that he had a valid claim for disability benefits as he
had been assessed by his physician of choice to have suffered from permanent partial
disability with a declaration that he was unfit for sea duty. The certificate of fitness for
work he executed, he emphasized, should have no effect on his claim because he only
signed it after the petitioners assured him of re-deployment; since they failed to re-hire
him, they cannot be released from any liability to him. He rejected Dr. Lim’s medical
report on his condition, particularly his fit to work assessment, as he considered it
self-serving.
In defense, the petitioners argued that Constantino’s claim should fail considering that
immediately on his repatriation, he underwent regular and rigorous examination and
was subjected to specialized treatments, tests and procedures, including surgery and
therapy sessions, administered or supervised by its accredited doctors and specialists,
at their expense. They stressed that for a period of almost six months, Constantino
was seen by their doctors at least twelve (12) times, and on every occasion, the
doctors issued a report on Constantino’s medical condition, the particular treatment
administered and medicines prescribed. Thus, when he executed the certificate of
fitness for work on October 2, 2002, he is estopped, they argued, from questioning the
findings of their accredited doctors.
The Compulsory Arbitration Rulings
On October 14, 2003, Labor Arbiter Veneranda C. Guerrero (LA Guerrero) rendered a
decision[13] dismissing the complaint for lack of merit. She held that Constantino is not
entitled to disability benefits in view of the fit-to-work declaration by petitioners’
coordinating physician Dr. Lim, after an exhaustive medical examination, treatment,
surgical procedure and therapy sessions administered on Constantino for several
months, as substantiated by the documents on record and corroborated by the
certificate of fitness for work signed by Constantino.
LA Guerrero believed that except for their duty to provide him sickness wages during
the period he was under treatment, the petitioners had complied with their obligations
under the POEA-SEC with respect to the injury sustained by Constantino on board the
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