5/19/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Arbiter ruled in favor of Nazam.[112] However, the National Labor Relations Commission reversed the Labor Arbiter's decision.[113] The Court of Appeals reinstated the Labor Arbiter's decision."[114] In reinstating the National Labor Relations Commission's decision which dismissed the complaint, this Court reasoned: Respondent's claim of having reported to petitioner Transmarine's office within three days from his arrival in the Philippines remains just that. As duly observed by the NLRC, respondent merely consulted a private practitioner more than one month after his arrival - three weeks after he had already filed his complaint for disability benefits; and he already filed his complaint for disability benefits; and he secured a medical certification that he was unfit for sea duty from another private physician only on March, 2005 or six months after his arrival. ... Aside from a "To whom it may concern" handwritten letter of respondent attached to his Position Paper filed before the arbiter detailing the alleged instances of verbal abuse, which letter bears the alleged signatures of some of respondent's colleagues, respondent failed to proffer concrete proof that, if indeed he was subjected to abuse, it directly resulted in his depression." [115] Several months had passed before petitioner sought medical opinion, but we should not blame him for belatedly seeking medical help. Perhaps his dire financial condition is one factor. We note that he filed this Petition as a pauper-litigant"6 and he has not found any suitable employment after repatriation.117 It might also have taken him some time to accept that he needed medical help. He knew well enough that he was wronged and immediately filed a complaint before the Overseas Worker's Welfare Administration, but perhaps, at that point, he had no manifest symptoms of any mental health issues yet. As found by the Labor Arbiter: A week after sign-off, complainant filed a complaint with the Overseas Worker's Welfare Administration (OWWA) claiming that he was sexually abused on board. Respondents denied his accusation and the case was dismissed. Sometime around mid-December 2014, complainant filed another complaint against respondents with the National Conciliation & Mediation Board (NCMB) claiming disability as he said he consulted a doctor and he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. No formal case was filed before the NCMB.[118] Lest this Court be misunderstood, We recognize that it takes time for victims of sexual harassment to come forward. Perhaps more so if the victim is a male, due to factors such as "fear that he will be considered to have provoked the assault in some way, stigma, a sense of loss of masculinity, either through being penetrated or not having fought hard enough to prevent the attack (or both), . . . and fear of being perceived as homosexual."[119] https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66544 16/25