6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly no case to exceed 120 days, the seaman is on temporary total disability as he is totally unable to work. He receives his basic wage during this period until he is declared fit to work or his temporary disability is acknowledged by the company to be permanent, either partially or totally, as his condition is defined under the POEA Standard Employment Contract and by applicable Philippine laws. If the 120 days initial period is exceeded and no such declaration is made because the seafarer requires further medical attention, then the temporary total disability period may be extended up to a maximum of 240 days, subject to the right of the employer to declare within this period that a permanent partial or total disability already exists. The seaman may of course also be declared fit to work at any time such declaration is justified by his medical condition.[51] A temporary total disability only becomes permanent when so declared by the company-designated physician within the periods he/she is allowed to do so, or upon the expiration of the maximum 240-day medical treatment period without a declaration of either fitness to work or the existence of a permanent disability.[52] In this case, the treatment of petitioner's injury required spine surgery and physical therapy which extended beyond the initial 120-day period into the maximum 240-day treatment period. The company-designated doctor's medical report dated September 11, 2017 (made 195 days from the time petitioner was injured on February 29, 2012) stated that petitioner failed the functional capacity test and recommended that petitioner continue therapy for two to three months. Petitioner filed his complaint on September 13, 2012 or 197 days from the date he was injured, and, therefore, before the lapse of the maximum 240-day treatment period within which the companydesignated physician should assess the fitness of petitioner to return to work. Since the company-designated doctor has not declared that petitioner is not fit to work within the 240-day period, and the 240-day period has not lapsed when petitioner filed his complaint, the petitioner cannot be legally presumed as permanently and totally disabled to be entitled to permanent total disability. To reiterate, the rule is that a temporary total disability only becomes permanent when the company-designated physician, within the 240-day period, declares it to be so, or when after the lapse of the same, he/she fails to make such declaration.[53] However, considering that the Labor Arbiter, the NLRC, and the Court of Appeals all found petitioner Gomez to be disabled due to a work-related injury, this fact is now binding on the respondents and this Court.[54] The Court concurs with the Court of Appeals' finding that petitioner suffers from a partial permanent disability grade of 8 given by the company-designated doctor based on the POEA SEC Schedule of Disability. [55] The disability grade is in accordance with Section 20-A (6) of the POEA SEC, which states: "The disability shall be based solely on the disability gradings provided under Section 32 of this Contract, and shall not be measured or determined by the number of days a seafarer is under treatment or the number of days in which sickness allowance is paid." Moreover, petitioner contends that the medical reports by the company-designated doctor, Dr. Tay, are mere hearsay evidence since she is only the medical coordinator of elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63243 11/17