for further sea service in any capacity by the Company doctor, shall also be
entitled to 100% compensation[35] (Underscoring supplied),
respondent had a rating above AB and that his disability was assessed at 50% or
more under Appendix B of the CBA to merit the award of 100%
compensation or $80,000 disability benefit and 10% thereof or $8,000 attorneys
fees.
For disability to be compensable under Section 20 (B) of the 2000 POEA
Standard Employment Contract, it must be the result of a work-related injury or
illness,[36] unlike the 1996 POEA Standard Employment Contract in which it
was sufficient that the seafarer suffered injury or illness during the term of his
employment.[37] The 2000 POEA Standard Employment Contract defines workrelated injury as injury(ies) resulting in disability or death arising out of and in
the course of employment and work-related illness as any sickness resulting to
disability or death as a result of an occupational disease listed under Section 32A of this contract with the conditions set therein satisfied.
In More Maritime Agencies, Inc. v. NLRC, [38] this Court, noting that the
therein private respondents job required him to enter a manhole accessible only
in a crouching position and carry a 20-liter canister to collect carbon, mud, and
oil deposited inside the cylinders of the ships air trunk,[39] found that his chronic
low back pain, which indicated a slipped disc, was work-related. This Court,
addressing the therein petitioners argument that the therein respondents chronic
low back pain was due to a pre-existing condition, expounded on the nature of a
work-related injury or illness:
x x x Compensability of an ailment does not depend on whether the
injury or disease was pre-existing at the time of the employment but rather if
the disease or injury is work-related or aggravated his condition. It is indeed
safe to presume that, at the very least, the arduous nature of Hormicilladas
employment had contributed to the aggravation of his injury, if indeed it was
pre-existing at the time of his employment. Therefore, it is but just that he be
duly compensated for it. It is not necessary, in order for an employee to
recover compensation, that he must have been in perfect condition or health at
the time he received the injury, or that he be free from disease. Every
workman brings with him to his employment certain infirmities, and while the
employer is not the insurer of the health of his employees, he takes them as he
finds them, and assumes the risk of having a weakened condition aggravated
by some injury which might not hurt or bother a perfectly normal, healthy
person.[40] (Underscoring, emphasis, and italics supplied)