6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Ruling of the CA On petition for certiorari to the CA, citing Section 20B(6) of the POEA SEC, the petitioners insisted that regardless of whether the disability is total or partial, any compensation should be based on the grading provided in the POEA SEC, which in this case is Grade 10 disability as assessed by the company doctors.[11] But the appellate court upheld the NLRC, ruling that firstly, Section 20 of POEA SEC, which is deemed written into the seafarer’s contract, provides for the minimum requirements acceptable to the government before it approves the deployment of Filipino seafarers on foreign ocean-going vessels, and that secondly, the two elements required for an injury or illness to be compensable concurred in the case: a) the injury or illness is work related, and b) and it occurred during the term of the seafarer’s contract.[12] The pertinent portion of Section 20 reads: SECTION 20. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS. — (B) COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR INJURY OR ILLNESS xxxx 3. Upon sign-off from the vessel for medical treatment, the seafarer is entitled to sickness allowance equivalent to his basic wage until he is declared fit to work or the degree of permanent disability has been assessed by the company-designated physician but in no case shall this period exceed one hundred twenty (120) days. For this purpose, the seafarer shall submit himself to a post employment medical examination by a company-designated physician within three working days upon his return except when he is physically incapacitated to do so, in which case, a written notice to the agency within the same period is deemed as compliance. Failure of the seafarer to comply with the mandatory reporting requirement shall result in his forfeiture of the right to claim the above benefits. If a doctor appointed by the seafarer disagrees with the assessment, a third doctor may be agreed jointly between the employer and the seafarer. The third doctor’s decision shall be final and binding on both parties. 4. Those illnesses not listed in Section 32 of this Contract are disputably presumed as work related. 5. Upon sign-off of the seafarer from the vessel for medical treatment, the employer shall bear the full cost of repatriation in the event the seafarer is declared (1) fit for repatriation; or (2) fit to work but the employer is unable to find employment for the seafarer on board his former vessel or another vessel of the employer despite earnest efforts. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/59517 6/12