5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly respondent was able to board the vessel on December 1, 2005. On February 8, 2006, he was repatriated to Manila on medical grounds. He was diagnosed to be suffering mainly from tuberculous adenitis and was treated thereof. The respondent asserted that he contracted the illness while on board the vessel. Notwithstanding the medical treatment he underwent, he was unable to go back to his sea duties for a period of more than one hundred twenty (120) days. The Court finds merit in the respondent’s contention regarding the suspicious gesture of the petitioners in having a medical certification declaring him as “fit to work” despite apparent clear knowledge that he has been subjected to a long period of medical treatment. Both the company-designated physician and the respondent’s private physician had similar findings that the respondent is suffering from tuberculous adenitis which is occupational in character and compensable under the attendant circumstances. The CA’s disquisition on the matter reads: Under Section 32-A (18) of the POEA Memorandum Circular No. 09, Series of 2000, “Pulmonary Tuberculosis” shall be considered as an occupational disease in “any occupation involving constant exposure to harmful substances in the working environment in the form of gases, fumes, vapors and dust.” It is well to point out that among [respondent’s] daily tasks as an able bodied seaman were to paint and chip rust on deck or superstructure of ship and to give directions to crew engaged in cleaning wheelhouse and quarterdeck, which constantly exposed him to different types of hazardous chemicals, such as paints, thinners, and other forms of cleaning agents and harmful substances, that may have invariably contributed to the aggravation of his illness.[37] (Citations omitted) Indeed, the fact that a certification declaring the respondent as fit to work contrary to a prior finding of tuberculosis can be considered as a ploy to circumvent the law intended to defeat the respondent’s right to be compensated for a disability which the law considers as permanent and total. Permanent total disability means “disablement of an employee to earn wages in the same kind of work or work of a similar nature that he was trained for or accustomed to perform, or any kind of work which a person of his mentality and attainment can do.”[38] And, as aptly observed by the LA and affirmed by the CA: While [the respondent] may have pulmonary fibrosis [right] lower lung with calcified benign as per PEME, it must be noted that he was declared fit for work x x x. Hence, he was able to board the vessel. The sickness that complainant now seeks for disability benefit is tuberculosis adenitis and diabetes mellitus. ‘Tuberculosis is a contagious infection caused by the airborne bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is usually transmitted elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/56832 6/10