6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Regularly, from 00:00 (Midnight) to 04:00 A.M., complainant was regularly not allowed to prepare his food for breakfast and snacks. Because of this, he starved and he became weak. As a result, he became mentally and physically weak during his regular four (4)[-]hour watch. Furthermore, having experienced insults, verbal abused [sic], humiliation, pressures and stress during his three-day ordeal with his indifferent supervisor Second Officer Dayo, complainant suffered trauma and anxiety attacks during the period from December 21 to December 25, 2003 x x x.[47] When Godinez applied for work with Career, he was an innocent boy of 20; his stint with Career would be his very first employment as a seafarer onboard an ocean-going vessel.[48] He was lacking in experience and knowledge, yet full of innocence, dreams, idealism, positive expectations, enthusiasm, and optimism. All these were shattered by his horrible experience onboard the "M/V Norviken," under the hands of Dayo, who unnecessarily exposed the young, inexperienced, and innocent boy to a different reality, a cruel one, and robbed him of the positive expectations and dreams he had coming to his very first job as a seafarer. His uncalled for cruelty broke the heart and spirit of this fledgling until he could no longer take it. The conditions of work, the elements, the environment, the fear and loneliness, the strange surroundings, and the unnecessary cruelty and lack of understanding and compassion of his immediate superior, the weight of all these was too much for the young man to handle. Like a tender twig in a vicious storm, he snapped. To complicate matters, Godinez was never given medical care onboard as soon as he became ill. The December 24 and 25, 2003 reports of the vessel master, Capt. Vicente A. Capero, sent to Career prove that even as Godinez was already exhibiting the symptoms of a nervous breakdown, his superiors and the crew provided no medical intervention or support. Instead, they ignored him as he wandered aimlessly half-naked around the ship; simply watched him make a fool of himself in front of his peers; and allowed him to precariously roam the ship even as it became evident that he was becoming a danger to himself, the crew, and the ship. In short, he was treated like a stray dog, whose presence is merely condoned. The vessel master's reaction was not reassuring either: instead of exhibiting compassion and providing needed care, he could not wait to expel Godinez from the ship, because the poor boy's strange behavior was starting to get on his nerves. We quote him, thus: In this condition of him which x x x is getting [worse everyday], I strongly oppose his presence on board. I want him to be dis-embarked immediately on arrival. He is now resisting orders, he [doesn't] listen to the officers and to his escort. This endanger[s] the safety of all crew on board and the vessel especially during transit and maneuvering. All my patience is over now.[49] (Emphasis supplied) The confluence of all these, the inhumane treatment inflicted upon this green, fragile, and innocent fledgling; the harsh environment and conditions of work he was exposed to for the very first time in his young life; the indifference of his superiors despite realizing what was happening to him; and the utter lack of a professional and medical response to the boy's progressing medical condition, led to the complete breakdown of elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63469 21/31