4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly and Article 192(c) of the Labor Code, which reads: ART. 192. Permanent Total Disability xxxx (c) The following disabilities shall be deemed total and permanent: (1) Temporary total disability lasting continuously for more than one hundred twenty days, except as otherwise provided for in the Rules[.] However, Rule X, Section 2 of the Rules and Regulations Implementing Book IV, which is the rule referred to in the above Labor Code provision, states: SEC. 2. Period of entitlement. – (a) The income benefit shall be paid beginning on the first day of such disability. If caused by an injury or sickness it shall not be paid longer than 120 consecutive days except where such injury or sickness still requires medical attendance beyond 120 days but not to exceed 240 days from onset of disability in which case benefit for temporary total disability shall be paid. However, the System may declare the total and permanent status at any time after 120 days of continuous temporary total disability as may be warranted by the degree of actual loss or impairment of physical or mental functions as determined by the System. The above provisions of the POEA SEC, the Labor Code, and its implementing rules and regulations, are to be read hand in hand when determining the disability benefits due a seafarer. [35] Elucidating on this concept, this Court, in PHILASIA Shipping Agency Corporation v. Tomacruz[36] quoting Vergara, held: As these provisions operate, the seafarer, upon sign-off from his vessel, must report to the company-designated physician within three (3) days from arrival for diagnosis and treatment. For the duration of the treatment but in 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 elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55144 8/12