Administration (POEA), was for a fixed period of one (1) month and for a specific undertaking of conducting said vessel to and from Japan. It quoted Delos Santos basic monthly salary and other monetary benefits in US currency. Under POEA rules, all employers and principals are required to adopt the POEA - standard employment contract (POEA-SEC) without prejudice to their adoption of terms and conditions over and above the minimum prescribed by that agency.[3] On the vessels return to the Philippines a month after, Delos Santos remained on board, respondent having opted to retain his services while the vessel underwent repairs in Cebu. After its repair, MV Wild Iris, this time renamed/registered as MV Super RoRo 100, sailed within domestic waters, having been meanwhile issued by the Maritime Industry Authority a Certificate of Vessel Registry and a permit to engage in coastwise trade on the Manila-Cebu-Manila-Zamboanga-General Santos-Manila [4] route. During this period of employment, Delos Santos was paid by and received from respondent his salary in Philippine peso thru a payrolldeposit arrangement with the Philippine Commercial & Industrial Bank.[5] Some five months into the vessels inter-island voyages, Delos Santos experienced episodes of chest pain, numbness and body weakness which eventually left him temporarily paralyzed. On 17 February 1996, he was brought to the Manila Doctors Hospital a duly accredited hospital of respondent - where he underwent a spinal column operation. Respondent shouldered all operation-related expenses, inclusive of his post operation confinement. As narrated in the assailed decision of the Court of Appeals, the following events next transpired: 1. After his discharge from the Manila Doctors, Delos Santos was made to undergo physical therapy sessions at the same hospital, which compelled the Batangas-based Delos Santoses to rent a room near the hospital at P3,000.00 a month; 2. Delos Santos underwent a second spinal operation at the nonaccredited Lourdes Hospital at the cost of P119, 536.00; and 3. After Lourdes, Delos Santos was confined in a clinic in San Juan, Batangas where P20,000.00 in hospitalization expenses was incurred.

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