4/15/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly 22.3 Proof of continued entitlement to sick pay shall be by submission of satisfactory medical reports, endorsed, where necessary, by a company appointed doctor. If a doctor appointed by or on behalf of the seafarer disagrees with the assessment, a third doctor may be nominated jointly between the company and the seafarer and the decision of this doctor shall be final and binding on both parties. xxxx 18.1 The employment shall be terminated: xxxx b. when signing off owing to sickness or injury, after medical examination in accordance with Article 21. The cause of death of the seafarer is immaterial to the determination of petitioner's entitlement to the said benefits. It is clear from the express provision of Section 25.1 of the CBA that respondents hold themselves liable for death benefits for the death of the seafarer under their employ for any cause. Under Annex 4 of the CBA, the same shall be in the amount of US$89,100.00.[109] Aside from death benefits, respondents also obligated themselves to pay the transportation expenses for the repatriation of the body of the deceased, as well as the burial expenses. In this case, the petitioner was able to show that the expenses she incurred for the repatriation of Manuel as well as his burial amounted to P162,080.00.[110] Sections 21 and 22 of the CBA did not limit the liability of the respondents to deaths that are directly attributable to sickness or injury, but rather widens its coverage to also include seafarers who died or signed off due to sickness of injury. Thus, the Court agrees with the following pronouncement of the CA: Now brought to light and in consideration of Articles 21 and 22, the CBA, in defining "in employment of the company" actually expanded the coverage of Section 25.1. Without this qualification, "in the employment of the company" simply means those who are actively working in the employ of Athenian Ship Management, Inc. However, the "for the purpose" clause "in employment of the company" widens its coverage to also include (a) employees who died as a result of sickness or injury during their employment as provided under Articles 21 and 22 of the CBA; and (b) employees who had to sign off due to sickness or injury under Articles 21 and 22 of the agreement. Otherwise stated, rather than limiting the scope of coverage of Section 25.1, the last sentence of its first paragraph widens it. It never affected or narrowed the phrase "any cause" in Section 25.1. To further make it simpler, the part of Section 25.1 pertaining to ''any cause" responds to the question, "what causes of deaths are covered?", while "in the employment" answers to the query, "given that all causes of death are covered, who else are considered employed?"[111] https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66237 25/37