6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Under Section 32[12] of the POEA SEC, only those injuries or disabilities classified as Grade 1 are considered total and permanent. In Kestrel Shipping Co., Inc. v. Munar, [13] the Court read the POEA SEC in harmony with the Labor Code and the AREC, and explained that: (a) the 120 days provided under Section 20(B)(3) of the POEA SEC is the period given to the employer to determine fitness to work and when the seafarer is deemed to be in a state of total and temporary disability; (b) the 120 days of total and temporary disability may be extended up to a maximum of 240 days should the seafarer require further medical treatment; and (c) a total and temporary disability becomes permanent when so declared by the company-designated physician within 120 or 240 days, as the case may be, or upon the expiration of the said periods without a declaration of either fitness to work or permanent disability and the seafarer is still unable to resume his regular seafaring duties.[14] The respondent was repatriated on August 4, 2010 and immediately underwent treatment and rehabilitation at the company-designated facility, Marine Medical Services of the Metropolitan Medical Center. It lasted until July 20, 2011, exceeding the 240 days allowed to declare him either fit to work or permanently disabled. Although he was given a Grade 11 disability rating on March 10, 2011, the assessment may be deemed tentative because he continued his physical therapy sessions beyond 240 days. Yet, despite his long treatment and rehabilitation, he was eventually unable to go back to work as a seafarer, which fact entitled him under the Dutch CBA to maximum disability benefits. It was held in Kestrel that the POEA SEC provides merely for the basic or minimal acceptable terms of a seafarer’s employment contract, thus, in the assessment of whether his injury is partial and permanent, the same must be so characterized not only under the Schedule of Disabilities in Section 32 of the POEA SEC, but also under the relevant provisions of the Labor Code and the AREC implementing Title II, Book IV of the Labor Code. According to Kestrel, while the seafarer is partially injured or disabled, he must not be precluded from earning doing the same work he had before his injury or disability or that he is accustomed or trained to do. Otherwise, if his illness or injury prevents him from engaging in gainful employment for more than 120 or 240 days, as may be the case, then he shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. In Crystal Shipping, Inc. v. Natividad,[15] the Court ruled that it is of no consequence that the seafarer recovered from his illness or injury, for what is important is that he was unable to perform his customary work for more than 120 days, and this constitutes total permanent disability: Petitioners tried to contest the above findings by showing that respondent was able to work again as a chief mate in March 2001. Nonetheless, this information does not alter the fact that as a result of his illness, respondent was unable to work as a chief mate for almost three years. It is of no consequence that respondent was cured after a couple of years. The law does not require that the illness should be incurable. What is important is that he was unable to perform his customary work for more than 120 days elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/59534 5/8