5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Benefits) of the Labor Code, in relation with Rule X of the Rules and Regulations Implementing Book IV of the Labor Code. By contract, Department Order No. 4, series of 2000 of the Department of Labor and Employment (the POEA Standard Employment Contract) and the parties' CBA bind the seaman and his employer to each other. The terms under the POEA-SEC are to be read in accordance with what the Philippine law provides. In Vergara v. Hammonia Maritime Services,[22] the Court interpreted the interplay of these legal and contractual provisions relating to the kind of disability recognized and the period involved. The Court observed: As these provisions operate, the seafarer, upon sign-off from his vessel, must report to the company-designated physician within three (3) days from arrival for diagnosis and treatment. For the duration of the treatment but in no case to exceed 120 days, the seaman is on temporary total disability as he is totally unable to work. He receives his basic wage during this period until he is declared fit to work or his temporary disability is acknowledged by the company to be permanent, either partially or totally, as his condition is defined under the POEA Standard Employment Contract and by applicable Philippine laws. If the 120 days initial period is exceeded and no such declaration is made because the seafarer requires further medical attention, then the temporary total disability period may be extended up to a maximum of 240 days, subject to the right of the employer to declare within this period that a permanent partial or total disability already exists. The seaman may of course also be declared fit to work at any time such declaration is justified by his medical condition. In other words, the mere lapse of the 120-day period itself does not automatically warrant the payment of permanent total disability benefits. Hence, the NLRC could not have gravely abused its discretion in not granting Pellazar permanent total disability benefits based on this as the entitlement to disability is governed not by the period of disability per se but by the specific provisions of the law and contract. It must be observed that Pellazar continued to undergo medical treatment under the care of the petitioners’ company designated doctors until he was finally given a Grade 10 disability in August 2006. Under the CBA and the POEA-SEC, it is the company-designated physician who shall determine a seafarer’s disability or his fitness to work. In granting Pellazar a Grade 10 disability rating in accordance with the finding of the company designated physician, the NLRC simply observed the provisions of the parties’ POEA-SEC. For this reason, no grave abuse of discretion can similarly be imputed against the NLRC. 2. The NLRC’s reliance on the findings of company-designated physician is not tainted with grave abuse of discretion on two grounds: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57342 6/12