illness work-related and that he was not entitled to reimbursement for medical expenses since it was
the Company that paid for them. Suarez elevated his case to the Court of Appeals (CA).
On April 26, 2010 the CA rendered a Decision setting aside the ruling of the NLRC and ordering the
Company to pay Suarez US$60,000.00 as permanent and total disability compensation and US$1,568.00
corresponding to four months salary. On October 12, 2011 it denied petitioners’ motion for
reconsideration and awarded Suarez attorney’s fees.
The sole issue in this case is whether or not the CA erred in failing to hold that the NLRC gravely abused
its discretion when it found that Suarez’s eye ailment is compensable.
The CA found that Suarez’s work as welder/fitter exposed him to dangers and hazards. He was doing
repair works on the vessel when paint drops hit his left eye, injuring it independent of his cataract.
Consequently, the ailment was work-related, hence, compensable. The CA added that, since Suarez’s
disability lasted for more than 120 days, he was entitled to permanent and total disability benefits.
The contractual liability of an employer to pay disability benefits to a seafarer who suffers illness or
injury during the term of his contract is governed by Section 20(B)(6) of the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration-Standard Employment Contract (POEA-SEC). It reads:
SECTION 20. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
xxxx
B. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR INJURY OR ILLNESS
The liabilities of the employer when the seafarer suffers work-related injury or illness during the term of
his contract are as follows:
xxxx
6. In case of permanent total or partial disability of the seafarer caused by either injury or illness the
seafarer shall be compensated in accordance with the schedule of benefits enumerated in Section 32 of
this Contract. Computation of his benefits arising from an illness or disease shall be governed by the
rates and rules of compensation applicable at the time the illness or disease was contracted.
Based on the above, an injury or illness is compensable when, first, it is work-related and, second, the
injury or illness existed during the term of the seafarer’s employment contract. Section 32(A) of the
2000 POEA Amended Standard Terms and Condition further provides that for an occupational disease
and the resulting disability to be compensable, the following need to be satisfied: (1) the seafarer's work
must involve the risks described; (2) the disease was contracted as a result of the seafarer's exposure to
the described risks; (3) the disease was contracted within a period of exposure and under such other
factors necessary to contract it; and (4) there was no notorious negligence on the part of the seafarer.
Suarez had been diagnosed to suffer from posterior subscapsular cataract on his right eye and
pseudophakia, and posterior capsule opacification on his left eye.7 For these to be regarded as