6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly There is nothing in the Standard Terms and Conditions governing the Employment of Filipino Seafarers On-Board Ocean-Going Vessels, particularly Section 30, thereof, that specifically states that traumatic head injury contemplates accidents involving physical or head contacts. Notably, The New Britannica-Webster Dictionary & Reference Guide, Copyright 1988 by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. defines the word injure as '1: an act that damages or hurts: WRONG 2: hurt, damage, or loss sustained.' Here, said dictionary does not specifically state that the hurt, damage, or loss sustained should be physical in nature, hence, the same may involve mental or emotional hurt, damage or loss sustained. Further, said dictionary defines the word trauma as 'a: a bodily injury caused by a physical force applied from without; b: a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from stress or injury.' From the above definitions, it is patent that 'traumatic head injury' does not only involve physical damage but mental or emotional damage as well. Respondents' argument that [petitioner's] co-seaman belied the claimed harassment is bereft of merit. Suffice it to state that [petitioner's] illness occurred during tlie term of his employment contract with them, hence, respondents are liable therefor. The above findings of the NLRC are in recognition of the emotional turmoil that petitioner experienced in the hands of the less compassionate German officers. This Court has ruled that schizophrenia is compensable. In NFD International Manning Agents, Inc. v. NLRC,[54] the Court went further by saying: Strict rules of evidence, it must be remembered, are not applicable in claims for compensation and disability benefits. Private respondent having substantially established the causative circumstances leading to his permanent total disability to have transpired during his employment, we find the NLRC to have acted in the exercise of its sound discretion in awarding permanent total disability benefits to private respondent. Probability and not the ultimate degree of certainty is the test of proof in compensation proceedings. The findings of both the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC as well as the records of the case convince the Court that petitioner's claim is substantiated by enough evidence to show that his disability is permanent and total. First, mere is the medical findings of the Philippine General Hospital that petitioner is down with psychosis; to consider paranoid disorder, making it extremely difficult for him to return to shipboard action; and second, the findings of the Social Benefits Division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration through its attending doctor Leonardo Bascar, that petitioner is suffering from 'schizophrenic form disorder.' elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63469 24/31