months time, the length of time he was on board M/T Eastern Jewel before the
symptoms became manifest.
It is of no moment that Masangcay passed his pre-employment medical
examination. It is probable that the pre-employment medical examination
conducted on him could not have divulged his illness for which he had been
brought to the Fujairah Hospitalin the United Arab Emirates, considering the
fact that most, if not all, of such medical examinations are not so exploratory.
[47]
The decrease of GFR, which is an indicator of chronic renal failure, is
measured thru the renal function test.[48] In pre-employment examination, the
urine analysis (urinalysis), which is normally included, measures only the
creatinine,[49] the presence of which cannot conclusively indicate chronic renal
failure.
Moreover, chronic renal failure, is neither listed as a disability under Sec.
32 of the 2000 POEA Amended Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the
Employment of Filipino Seafarers on Board Ocean-Going Vessels; nor an
occupational disease under Sec. 32-A thereof, which provides for the schedule
of disability or impediment for injuries suffered and diseases including
occupational diseases or illness.
Under Sec. 32 of the POEA Amended Standard Terms and Conditions, it
is the loss of a kidney, i.e., its removal, that is compensated, and not merely the
presence and subsequent removal of kidney stones. And under Sec. 32-A of the
same, Masangcays illness cannot also be classified as an occupational
disease. A compensable occupational disease must satisfy several conditions, to
wit:
SECTION 32-A. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
For an occupational disease and the resulting disability or death to be
compensable, all of the following conditions must be satisfied:
(1) The seafarers work must involve the risks described herein;
(2) The disease was contracted as a result of the seafarers exposure to
the described risks;
(3) The disease was contracted within a period of exposure and under
such other factors necessary to contract it;
(4) There was no notorious negligence on the part of the seafarer.
But other than Masangcays bare avowal of entitlement just because an
illness became manifest during his contract of employment, there is nothing on