5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly him further anxiety, sleepless nights, and mental anguish and forcing him to litigate. Thus, he prayed that judgment be rendered in his favor for the payment of permanent and total disability compensation in the amount of US$137,500.00; moral and exemplary damages in the amount of P150,000.00; attorney’s fees equivalent to 10% of his claims; reimbursement of his medical and transportation expenses; and legal interest. On the other hand, petitioners’ main defense in their Position Paper and other written submissions[9] is that Bengson’s illness is not an occupational disease; that it is not work-related and therefore not compensable; that there is no medical evidence to support his claims; that his “small hematoma on the left cranium” has already been declared by the company-designated physician to be not work-related, and is not included in the Philippine Overseas and Employment Authority Standard Employment Contract (POEA-SEC) list of occupational diseases; that they have shouldered Bengson’s medical expenses and paid him his sickness and transportation allowances; that the standard in measuring the degree of disability of a seafarer is not the 120-day period provided under Article 192(c) (1) of the Labor Code[10] and Rule X, Section 2 of the Amended Rules on Employees’ Compensation Commission,[11] but the disability grading issued by the company-designated physician – that is, a seafarer may be entitled to total and permanent disability benefits if he has been issued a Grade 1 disability; that consequently, Bengson is not entitled to damages, attorney’s fees and other claims. Petitioners thus prayed for the dismissal of the labor complaint. On June 18, 2009, the Labor Arbiter issued his Decision[12] in NLRC OFW Case No. (M) 07-10402-08, which decreed as follows: WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered ordering respondents jointly and severally liable to pay complainant JUANITO BENGZON [sic] the Philippine peso equivalent at the actual payment of One Hundred Thirty Seven Thousand Five Hundred U.S. Dollars (US$137,500.00) representing 100% of the compensation benefit under the CBA and ten (10%) percent of the total money claims as attorney’s fees. Other monetary claims are dismissed for lack of merit. SO [ORDERED].[13] The Labor Arbiter declared that Bengson’s hematoma in the left part of his cranium is related to his work as Third Mate, and the strenuous nature of his work and the conditions he was subjected to while working on board petitioners’ vessel caused his illness; that respondent suffered from heart disease and/or cerebral infarction which required medication and regular medical check-up up to the present; that despite his condition, the company-designated physician (Agbayani) has to date failed to issue a disability assessment; that consequently, Bengson suffered from permanent and total disability. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57809 3/13