7/7/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Pursuant to the afore-quoted provision, two elements must concur for an injury or illness to be compensable. First, that the injury or illness must be work­-related; and second, that the work-related injury or illness must have arisen during the term of the seafarer's employment contract.[26] Accordingly, for disability to be compensable under Section 20(B) of the 2000 POEA-SEC, it must be the result of a work-related injury or a work-related illness, which are defined as "injur[ies] resulting in disability or death arising out of and in the course of employment" and as "any sickness resulting to disability or death as a result of an occupational disease listed under Section 32-A of this contract with the conditions set therein satisfied."[27] This section, Section 20(B), should be read together with Section 32-A of the POEASEC that enumerates the various diseases deemed occupational and, therefore, compensable. Thus, for a seafarer to be entitled to the compensation and benefits under Section 20(B), the disability causing illness or injury must be one of those listed under Section 32-A, it reads in part: Section 32-A. - OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES For an occupational disease and the resulting disability or death to be compensable, all of the following conditions must be satisfied: 1. The seafarer's work must involve the risks described herein; 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; 4. There was no notorious negligence on the part of the seafarer. xxxx The list of occupational diseases, however, is not exclusive. Meaning, even those diseases or injuries not enumerated in Section 32-A may still be compensable. In fact, the POEA-SEC provides for a disputable presumption of work-relatedness for non-POEASEC-listed occupational disease and the resulting illness or injury which a seafarer may have suffered during the term of his employment contract The disputable presumption, however, "does not signify an automatic grant of compensation and/or benefits claim; the seafarer must still prove his entitlement to disability benefits by substantial evidence of his illness' work-relatedness."[28] Thus, in situations where the seafarer seeks to claim the compensation and benefits that Section 20-B grants to him, the law requires the seafarer to prove that: (1) he suffered an illness; (2) he suffered this illness during the term of his employment contract; (3) he complied with the procedures prescribed under Section 20-B; (4) his illness is one of the enumerated occupational diseases or that his illness or injury is otherwise work-related; and (5) he complied with the four conditions enumerated under Section 32-A for an occupational disease or a disputably-presumed work-related disease to be compensable.[29] Under these considerations, this Court holds and so rules that respondent's claim must https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66977 6/14