6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly further rehabilitation. While We have ruled that Dr. Bathan is not bound to render his assessment within the 120/240 day period, and that the said period is inconsequential and has no application on the third doctor, petitioner's disability and incapacity to resume working clearly continued for more than 240 days. Applying Article 192 (c)(1) of the Labor Code, petitioner's disability should be considered permanent and total despite the Grade 9 disability grading. This conclusion is in accordance with Kestrel,[20] wherein this Court underscored that if partial and permanent injuries or disabilities would incapacitate a seafarer from performing his usual sea duties for a period of more than 120 or 240 days, depending on the need for further medical treatment, then he is, under legal contemplation, totally and permanently disabled: Indeed, under Section 32 of the POEA-SEC, only those injuries or disabilities that are classified as Grade 1 may be considered as total and permanent. However, if those injuries or disabilities with a disability grading from 2 to 14, hence, partial and permanent, would incapacitate a seafarer from performing his usual sea duties for a period of more than 120 or 240 days, depending on the need for further medical treatment, then be is, under legal contemplation, totally and permanently disabled. In other words, an impediment should be characterized as partial and permanent not only under the Schedule of Disabilities found in Section 32 of the POEA-SEC but should be so under the relevant provisions of the Labor Code and the Amended Rules on Employee Compensation (AREC) implementing Title II, Book IV of the Labor Code. That while the seafarer is partially injured or disabled, he is not precluded from earning doing the same work he had before his injury or disability or that he is accustomed or trained to do. Otherwise, if his illness or injury prevents him from engaging in gainful employment for more than 120 or 240 days, as the case may be, he shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. (emphasis supplied) In determining whether a disability is total or partial, what is crucial is whether the employee who suffered from disability could still perform his work notwithstanding the disability he met. A permanent partial disability presupposes a seafarer's fitness to resume sea duties before the end of the 120/240-day medical treatment period despite the injuries sustained, and works on the premise that such partial injuries did not disable a seafarer to earn wages in the same kind of work or similar nature for which he was trained.[21] To reiterate, the company doctor or the appointed third-party physician must arrive at a definite and conclusive assessment of the seafarer's disability or fitness to return to work before his or her opinion can be valid and binding between the parties. Dr. Bathan, whose opinion should have bound the parties despite the lapse of the 120/240 elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/62831 11/16