1/5/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly arrival at the point of hire upon termination of his employment pursuant to Section 18 of this Contract. xxxx Sec. 18. Termination of Employment. - A) The employment of the seafarer shall cease when the seafarer completes his period of contractual service aboard the vessel, signs off from the vessel and arrives at the point of hire. x x x x (Emphasis supplied.) A simple reading of the foregoing shows that a contract between an employer and a seafarer ceases upon its completion, when the seafarer signs off from the vessel and arrives at the point of hire. In this case, while Apolinario's six-month contract may have ended as early as August 2010, he nonetheless was able to sign off from MV Algosaibi 42 and arrive at the point of hire only on April 11, 2012. Section 30 of the 2000 POEA-SEC provides for the prescriptive period for filing claims arising from the contract: Sec. 30. PRESCRIPTION OF ACTION.All claims arising from this Contract shall be made within three (3) years from the date the cause of action arises otherwise the same shall be barred. It is well-settled that a seafarer's cause of action arises upon his disembarkation from the vessel. As Apolinario's disembarkation from Algosaibi 42 was on April 11, 2012, he had three years from the date, or until April 11, 2015, to make a claim for disability benefits. Records show that Apolinario had requested for a SENA before the NLRC as early as March 25, 2015. To elucidate, SENA is an administrative approach to provide an accessible, speedy, and inexpensive settlement of complaints arising from employeremployee relationship to prevent cases from ripening into full blown disputes. All labor and employment disputes undergo this 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation process.[39] Notwithstanding, that Apolinario filed his Complaint before the Labor Arbiter only on May 8, 2015 is of no moment. SENA being a pre-requisite to the filing of a Complaint before the Labor Arbiter, the date when Apolinario should be deemed to have instituted his claim was when he instituted his Request for SENA on March 25, 2015. Considering that the expiration of Apolinario's cause of action was on April 11, 2015, his claim was filed well within the 3-year prescriptive period. Claim for Sickness Allowance and Attorney's Fees Under Section 20(A)(3) of the 2010 POEA-SEC, the amount of sickness allowance that the seafarer shall receive from his employer shall be in an amount equivalent to his https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65782 10/14