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SECOND DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 237063, July 24, 2019 ]
FRANCIVIEL* DERAMA SESTOSO, PETITIONER, VS. UNITED
PHILIPPINE LINES, INC., CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES, FERNANDINO
T. LISING, RESPONDENTS.
DECISION
LAZARO-JAVIER, J.:
The Case
This Petition for Review on Certiorari assails the following dispositions of the Court of
Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 149802, viz:
1) Decision[1] dated August 24, 2017 reversing the NLRC's grant of total and
permanent disability benefits to petitioner Franciviel Derama Sestoso; and
2) Resolution[2] dated January 25, 2018 denying petitioner's motion for
reconsideration.
The Proceedings before the Labor Arbiter
In his Complaint dated January 18, 2016, petitioner Franciviel Derama Sestoso sued
respondents United Philippine Lines, Inc. (UPLI), Carnival Cruise Lines, and UPLI's
owner Fernandino T. Lising for total and permanent disability benefits, moral and
exemplary damages, and attorney's fees.[3]
Petitioner essentially alleged:
On July 2014, respondent UPLI in behalf of its foreign principal Carnival Cruise Lines
hired him as Team Headwaiter on board M/V Carnival Inspiration for a period of 6
months.[4]
On October 31, 2014, he did his usual task of cleaning the dining table. But this time,
when he knelt to clean the dining table, a sharp pain radiated down his right knee.
Hence, as soon as the vessel docked at Los Angeles, California, he underwent a
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at a shore side clinic. The result showed a complex
tear of the medial meniscus and degenerative joint changes. It also revealed the
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