8/26/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly could no longer be expected to improve despite continuing medical treatment or rehabilitative programs. In effect, De Vera is implying that the company-designated physicians failed to give a definite and effective assessment. De Vera is grasping at straws. The Court observes that the contention against the term "maximally medically improved" in the company-designated physicians' final medical report is a new issue which has not been raised during the proceedings before. It must be highlighted that De Vera's position during the proceedings in the Labor Arbiter, the NLRC, and the CA was that he must be considered as totally and permanently disabled because of the impairment or loss of his earning capacity as he is unable to earn wages in the same kind of work which he was trained for or accustomed to perform. He never assailed the certainty and finality of the fit to work assessment he received from the company-designated physicians. More importantly, a simple reading of the final medical report would belie De Vera's contention that the company-designated physicians' fit to work assessment was not definite. Indeed, the company-designated physicians recommended that De Vera has "maximally medically improved." However, they also stated that De Vera's condition has been resolved and recommended that he be discharged from medical coordination. Moreover, they expressly stated that De Vera was already fit to work. It must be repeated that in their Final Medical Summary Report, the company-designated physicians stated that "Physical Capacity Evaluation on March 23, 2013 showed physical examination findings that were normal, and material and nonmaterial handling tests that were completed without complaints of lumbar or back pain. Overall recommendation revealed [that] patient was fit to work." Thus, while "maximally medically improved" could mean either that the patient has fully recovered or that the patient's condition could no longer be improved, there is no doubt that when the company-designated physicians used the said term in their final medical report, they meant that De Vera has fully recovered and was already fit to work as a seafarer. Hence, the company-designated physicians were able to issue a final and definite medical assessment within the prescribed period. De Vera failed to validly challenge the assessment by the company-designated physicians; Assessment by the company-designated physicians is more credible. Even if the Court were to consider De Vera's late consultation with Dr. Garcia and give due course to the assessment he issued, there would still be no valid challenge to the company-designated physicians' assessment. It is settled that the determination of the fitness of a seafarer for sea duty is the province of the company-designated physician, subject to the periods prescribed by law.[34] This is because it is the company-designated physician who has been granted by the POEA-SEC the first opportunity to examine the seafarer and to thereafter issue a certification as to the seafarer's medical status.[35] https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65369 8/14