UPON THE VIEW WE TAKE OF THIS CASE, THUS, the assailed decision and resolution of the NLRC must be, as they hereby are, REVERSED, and the June 21, 2002 judgment of Labor Arbiter Salimathar V. Nambi REINSTATED in toto. Without costs.   SO ORDERED.[39]   Petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration[40] which the appellate court denied in its January 6, 2005 Resolution.[41]   Petitioners thus filed the instant petition assailing the ruling of the appellate court on the following grounds:   I. The appellate court disregarded the terms and conditions of the POEA Standard Employment Contract when it rendered petitioners liable for the seamans death which occurred after (sic)long after the POEA Contract had been terminated.   II. The appellate court erred in ruling that deceased Sta. Ritas illness which caused his death allegedly occurred during his employment and/or the risk of contracting the disease was increased or aggravated by his employment since there was no evidence in this respect.   III. The appellate court erred in ruling for the respondents despite clear proof that the cause of death was entirely different from the illness with which the deceased was repatriated.[42]     The threshold issue is whether or not respondents are entitled to death and sickness benefits from petitioners on account of Virgilios death on March 18, 2001.   Petitioners aver that, for respondents to be entitled to the death benefits in the POEA Standard Employment Contract, the death of the seafarer must occur during the term of the contract. When the seafarer dies after the termination of his employment but was suffering from an injury or illness during the term of his contract, the heirs would be entitled only to the compensation and benefits under Section 20(B) of the Contract. The cause of Virgilios death which was cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to metabolic acidosis, acute renal failure and hepatocellular carcinoma, had no connection with umbilical hernia for which he was repatriated in March 2000.Petitioners stress that the cause of Virgilios death was entirely different from the illness for which he was repatriated. His death further occurred long after the termination of his contract due to repatriation, after