G. R. No. 179177
23 of 29
http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/july2009/179177.htm
that a seafarer, signing off from the vessel for medical treatment, must submit himself to a
post-employment medical examination by a company-designated physician within three
working days upon his return, viz:
SECTION 20. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
xxxx
B. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR INJURY OR ILLNESS
The liabilities of the employer when the seafarer suffers work-related injury or
illness during the term of his contract are as follows:
xxxx
3. Upon sign-off from the vessel for medical treatment, x x x.
xxxx
For this purpose, the seafarer shall submit himself to a post-employment
medical examination by a company-designated physician within three
working days upon his return x x x.
The post-employment medical examination is clearly meant to verify the medical
condition for which the seafarer signed off from the vessel. In the case at bar, petitioner
Nisdas post-employment medical examination revealed a far more serious medical
condition, Coronary Heart Disease, than what he was first diagnosed with in Saudi Arabia.
And, as we previously established herein, it is highly improbable that petitioner Nisda
developed said disease only within the few days from his arrival in the Philippines. The far
more reasonable and logical conclusion is that he already had the disease while still on
board the vessel of respondent ADAMS and well within the life of his POEA-SEC.
Moreover, well worth considering is the riposte to the query: If respondent ADAMS
truly considered that petitioner Nisda contracted his Coronary Artery Disease way after the
effectivity of the latters POEA-SEC, then why did it remit the amounts of US$4,389.40 and
US$5,997.33 to the Makati Medical Center and Makati Heart Foundation, respectively, as
payment for the expenses incurred for a former employees triple bypass operation?
Any dispute as to petitioner Nisdas state of health could have easily been resolved
had respondents Sea Serve and ADAMS stayed true to the provisions of the 2000 Amended
Standard Terms and Conditions, particularly Sec. 20(B)(3), which allows the following
option:
3. Upon sign-off from the vessel for medical treatment, the seafarer is entitled to sickness
1/28/2016 1:07 PM
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