6/14/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly The period for the declaration should be made within the period of 120 days or 240 days, as the case may be. Once a finding of permanent (total or partial) disability is made either within the 120-day period or the 240-day period, Section 20-B (6) of the POEA­SEC requires the employer to pay the seafarer disability benefits for his permanent total or partial disability caused by the work-related illness or injury. In practical terms, a finding of permanent disability means a permanent reduction of the earning power of a seafarer to perform future sea or on board duties; permanent disability benefits look to the future as a means to alleviate the seafarer's financial condition based on the level of injury or illness he incurred or contracted. The separate treatment of, and the distinct considerations in, these three kinds of liabilities under the POEA-SEC can only mean that the POEA-SEC intended to make the employer liable for each of these three kinds of liabilities. In other words, employers must: (1) pay the seafarer sickness allowance equivalent to his basic wage in addition to the medical treatment that they must provide the seafarer with at their cost; and (2) compensate the seafarer for his permanent total or partial disability as finally determined by the company-designated physician. Significantly, too, while Section 20 of the POEA-SEC did not expressly state that the employer's liabilities are cumulative in nature – so as to hold the employer liable for the sickness allowance, medical expenses and disability benefits – it does not also state that the compensation and benefits are alternative or that the grant of one bars the grant of the others. [112] (Emphasis supplied and citations omitted) Consequently, in addition to a full disability benefit of US$60,000.00 under Section 20(B)(6) of the POEA-SEC, Alcid is likewise entitled to a sickness allowance US$2,252.00, which represents his basic salary of US563.00 multiplied by four months (or 120 days), pursuant to Section 20(B)(3) of the POEA-SEC. However, this Court takes note of the respondents' statement in their Comment that they have paid a sickness allowance of US$1,388.73, as evidenced by their Check Disbursement Vouchers.[113] Petitioners did not refute this. On this score, said amount shall be deducted from the sickness allowance of US$2,252.00, and respondents shall only be held liable for the balance of US$863.27.[114] Anent the liability for reimbursement of medical expenses, Section 20(B)(2) of the POEA-SEC obliges the employer to cover the seafarer's medical expenses until the latter is declared fit to work or the degree of his permanent disability is determined by the company-designated physician. Likewise, under the CBA, the respondents' obligation for medical care shall only last for 130 days reckoned from the first day of the seafarer's hospitalization, viz.: 23.4. If the seafarer is unfit as a result of sickness or injury and is repatriated to his place of engagement he shall be entitled to medical https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66892 15/23