6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Evidently, it is the company-designated physician who must declare the seaman’s fit to work or assess the degree of his permanent disability[24] within the specified 120-day period which may be extended up to 240 days.[25] An action for permanent and total disability benefits may, however, be pursued by a seaman under any of the following circumstances,[26] to wit: (a) The company-designated physician failed to issue a declaration as to his fitness to engage in sea duty or disability even after the lapse of the 120day period and there is no indication that further medical treatment would address his temporary total disability, hence, justify an extension of the period to 240 days; (b) The 240 days had lapsed without any certification issued by the company-designated physician; (c) The company-designated physician declared that he is fit for sea duty within the 120-day or 240-day period, as the case may be, but his physician of choice and the doctor chosen under Section 20-B(3) of the POEA-SEC are of a contrary opinion; (d) The company-designated physician acknowledged that he is partially permanently disabled but other doctors who he consulted, on his own and jointly with his employer, believed that his disability is not only permanent but total as well; (e) The company-designated physician recognized that he is totally and permanently disabled but there is a dispute on the disability grading; (f) The company-designated physician determined that his medical condition is not compensable or work-related under the POEA-SEC but his doctor-ofchoice and the third doctor selected under Section 20-B(3) of the POEA-SEC found otherwise and declared him unfit to work; (g) The company-designated physician declared him totally and permanently disabled but the employer refuses to pay him the corresponding benefits; and (h) The company-designated physician declared him partially and permanently disabled within the 120-day or 240-day period but he remains incapacitated to perform his usual sea duties after the lapse of said periods. (Emphasis omitted) The Court’s perusal of the record shows that petitioner’s complaint does not fall under any of the foregoing circumstances. Having arrived in the Philippines on 26 October 2007, there is no dispute regarding the fact that petitioner was referred the following day by respondents to the Marine Medical Services (Metropolitan Medical Center) where, after his diagnosis for a possible right rotator cuff tear, he was advised to undergo an MRI examination and ultrasound examination. Further advised to continue elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/62366 5/9