SECOND DIVISION [G.R. No. 130772. November 19, 1999] WALLEM MARITIME SERVICES, INC., and WALLEM SHIP MANAGEMENT, LTD., petitioners, vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION and ELIZABETH INDUCTIVO, respondents. DECISION BELLOSILLO, J.: WALLEM MARITIME SERVICES, INC. and WALLEM SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD. in this petition for certiorari assail for having been rendered with grave abuse of discretion the 30 June 1997 Resolution of the National Labor Relations Commission dismissing their appeal for lack of merit, as well as its 29 August 1997 Resolution denying reconsideration thereof.i[1] Sometime in May 1993, Pan-Fil Co. Inc., as manning and crewing agent in the Philippines of Wallem Ship Management Ltd. (WALLEM MANAGEMENT), hired Faustino Inductivo as utilityman for "MT Rowan," a vessel owned and operated by WALLEM MANAGEMENT, a Hongkong based shipping company. The employment contract of Faustino Inductivo was good for ten (10) months with a compensation of US$360.00 monthly basic salary, US$201.00 fixed monthly overtime pay, and a monthly vacation leave with pay for six (6) days. As was the standard procedure, Faustino Inductivo underwent pre-employment medical examination and was found by his employer's doctors to be physically fit for work. So, on 13 May 1993, he was told to board as he did the "MT Rowan." In November 1993 Wallem Maritime Services, Inc. (WALLEM SERVICES) took over as WALLEM MANAGEMENT's manning and crewing agent in the Philippines. Faustino Inductivo, who was advised of the takeover, opted to remain on the vessel and to continue his employment under the manning agency of WALLEM SERVICES. Barely two (2) months before the expiration of his employment contract, or on 17 January 1994, he was discharged from the vessel. His Seaman's Bookii[2] and Wages Accountiii[3]indicated that the cause of the discharge was "mutual consent, on completion of 8 months and 5 days." Accordingly, he disembarked in Hong Kong, travelled to Manila alone and then returned to his hometown in Nueva Ecija. On 19 January 1994, two (2) days after his arrival in the Philippines, he was hospitalized at the Yamsuan Medical Clinic in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, after complaining of occasional coughing and chest pains. The clinical diagnosis was pneumonities, bilateral. As his condition worsened, Faustino Inductivo was rushed to the Lung Center of the Philippines where a mass was found on his right lung and another on his right neck. His doctor advised him to undergo biopsy treatment, but since he was scared he requested to go on medication at home instead. Two (2) days thereafter, Faustino Inductivo returned to the hospital, this time at the De Ocampo Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Alfredo Sales, his attending physician, found on examination the presence of water in his lungs causing shortness of breath. For insufficiency of medical facilities, however, he was transferred to the Makati Medical Center where his doctor finally abandoned all