6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly compensation, which the respondents denied contending that only a Grade 7 Disability rating was proper.[62] Viewed in the foregoing context, it can be concluded that as of June 3, 2014, which was more than 120 days from Balatero's repatriation, no final disability rating was yet issued by the respondents, sans proof too that the latter sought for an extension to further determine the seafarer's fitness to work. Dr. Olalia's Medical Report, dated January 8, 2014, which negated the work-relatedness of Balatero's medical condition, was issued merely in the interim considering that tests and procedures were still to be performed. The said report cannot be considered as the final disability rating issued by the company-designated doctor. In Carcedo,[63] the Court ruled that: [A] partial and permanent disability could, by legal contemplation, become total and permanent. The Court in Kestrel Shipping Co., Inc. v. Munar held that the declaration by the company-designated physician is an obligation, the abdication of which transforms the temporary total disability to permanent total disability, regardless of the disability grade, viz: Indeed, under Section 32 of the POEA-SEC, only those injuries or disabilities that are classified as Grade 1 may be considered as total and permanent. However, if those injuries or disabilities with a disability grading from 2 to 14, hence, partial and permanent, would incapacitate a seafarer from performing his usual sea duties for a period of more than 120 or 240 days, depending on the need for further medical treatment, then he is, under legal contemplation, totally and permanently disabled. In other words, an impediment should be characterized as partial and permanent not only under the Schedule of Disabilities found in Section 32 of the POEA-SEC but should be so under the relevant provisions of the Labor Code and the Amended Rules on Employee Compensation (AREC) implementing Title II, Book IV of the Labor Code. That while the seafarer is partially injured or disabled, he is not precluded from earning [or] 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 or 240 days, as the case may be, he shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. Moreover, the company-designated physician is expected to arrive at a definite assessment of the seafarer's fitness to work or permanent disability within the period of 120 or 240 days. That should he fail to do so and the seafarer's medical condition remains unresolved, the seafarer shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. x x x xxxx elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63152 9/17