enlargement of the abdomen five (5) days after the surgery on his umbilical hernia. He could not have contracted liver cirrhosis, the underlying cause of his death, only after he was repatriated; he contracted it during the time of his employment with petitioners. They claimed that respondents cannot find solace in the Certificate of Fitness executed by the deceased because the same is in the nature of a deed of quitclaim and cannot bar the recovery of death benefits.   On October 26, 2004, the appellate court rendered judgment granting the petition.[38] It declared that the cause of Virgilios death was traceable to his cirrhosis, which he presumably acquired while he was in petitioners employ. Virgilio worked in the engine room where he was necessarily exposed to chemicals. Also, his strenuous work as an oiler might have weakened his state of health; his having skipped meals to attend to his work might have rendered him susceptible to malnutrition. It stressed that hepatocellular carcinoma may arise as a complication of cirrhosis. The dispositive portion of the CA decision reads: