6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly found that he continued to complain and suffer from neck pain despite continuous therapy, and the pain is made worse by neck rotation, something that obviously cannot be prevented in a manual occupation, and he concluded that Camoral has lost his preinjury capacity and is UNFIT to work back at his previous occupation as a seafarer. The issue now before the Court is whether the disability grading provided by the petitioners for Camoral’s impediment must control. The Court says no. In Vergara v. Hammonia Maritime Services, Inc., et al.,[20] the Court harmonized the POEA SEC with the Labor Code and the AREC in holding that: (a) the 120 days provided in Section 20-B(3) of the POEA SEC is the period given to the employer to determine the fitness of the seafarer to work, during which the seafarer is deemed to be in a state of total and temporary disability; (b) the 120 days of total and temporary disability may be extended by a maximum of 120 days, or up to 240 days, should the seafarer require further medical treatment; and (c) a total and temporary disability becomes permanent when so declared by the company-designated physician within 120 days or 240 days, as the case may be, or upon the expiration of the said periods without a declaration of either fitness to work or permanent disability and the seafarer is still unable to resume his regular seafaring duties.[21] As noted in Kestrel Shipping Co., Inc. v. Munar,[22] the POEA SEC provides merely the minimum acceptable terms in a seafarer’s employment contract, and that in the assessment of whether a seafarer’s injury is partial and permanent, the same must be so characterized not only under the Schedule of Disabilities found in Section 32 of the POEA SEC, but also under the relevant provisions of the Labor Code and the AREC implementing Title II, Book IV of the Labor Code.[23] Article 192(c) of the Labor Code provides that temporary total disability lasting continuously for more than 120 days, except as otherwise provided in the AREC, shall be deemed total and permanent; Section 2(b) of Rule VII of the AREC also provides that: [D]isability is total and permanent if as a result of the injury or sickness the employee is unable to perform any gainful occupation for a continuous period exceeding 120 days, except as otherwise provided under Rule X of these Rules. (Italics ours) Thus, according to Kestrel, while the seafarer is partially injured or disabled, he must not be precluded from earning doing the same work he had before his injury or disability or that he is accustomed or trained to do. Otherwise, if his illness or injury prevents him from engaging in gainful employment for more than 120 days or 240 days, as is the case here, then he shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. [24] In Crystal Shipping, Inc. v. Natividad,[25] the Court specifically ruled that it is of no consequence that he recovered, for what is important is that he was unable to perform his customary work for more than 120 days, and this constitutes permanent total disability: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/59517 9/12