8/26/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly 5. As the condition is pre-existing or hereditary, based on the POEA Contract, no disability is given.[64] (emphasis supplied) In Fil-Pride Shipping Company, Inc., et al. v. Balasta,[65] the Court ruled that the company-designated physician must arrive at a definite assessment of the seafarer's fitness to work or permanent disability within a period of 120 or 240 days, pursuant to Article 192(c)(1) of the Labor Code and Rule X, Section 2 of the Amended Rules on Employee's Compensation (AREC). If he fails to do so and the seafarer's medical condition remains unresolved, the latter shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. Thus, even if it was shown that given the seafarer's delicate post-operative condition, a definitive assessment by the company-designated physician would have been unnecessary as, for all intents and purposes, the seafarer was already unfit for sea duty. Still, with the said doctor's failure to issue a definite assessment of the seafarer's condition on the last day of the statutory 240-day period, the seafarer was deemed totally and permanently disabled pursuant to Article 192(c)(1) of the Labor Code and Rule X, Section 2 of the AREC. However, it must be pointed out that in the aforecited case, respondent sufficiently alleged the causal connection between his work duties/functions and his heart disease, viz.: Just the same, in several cases, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, as well as other heart ailments were held to be compensable. Likewise, petitioners failed to refute respondent's allegations in his Position Paper that in the performance of his duties as Able Seaman, he inhaled, was exposed to, and came into direct contact with various injurious and harmful chemicals, dust, fumes/ emissions, and other irritant agents; that he performed strenuous tasks such as lifting, pulling, pushing and/or moving equipment and materials on board the ship; that he was constantly exposed to varying temperatures of extreme hot and cold as the ship crossed ocean boundaries; that he was exposed as well to harsh weather conditions; that in most instances, he was required to perform overtime work; and that the work of an Able Seaman is both physically and mentally stressful. It does not require much imagination to realize or conclude that these tasks could very well cause the illness that respondent, then already 47 years old, suffered from six months into his employment contract with petitioners. x x x[66] (emphases supplied) Subsequently, in Gamboa v. Maunlad Trans, Inc., et al.,[67] the Court reiterated case law stating that without a valid final and definitive assessment from the companydesignated physician within the 120/240-day period, the law already steps in to consider petitioner's disability as total and permanent. Thus, a temporary total disability becomes total and permanent by operation of law.[68] Since the companydesignated physician therein failed to arrive at a final and definitive assessment of petitioner seafarer's disability within the prescribed period, the law deems the same to be total and permanent, which is classified as Grade 1 under the POEA-SEC. Again, it bears stressing that in the aforecited case, the conditions set forth in Section https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65335 14/24