RESOLUTION
G.R. No. 214334
November 17, 2014
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Section 20(B), paragraph 3 of the 2000 POEA-SEC 7 reads:
Section 20-B. Compensation and Benefits for Injury or lllness.
The liabilities of the employer when the seafarer suffers work-related
injury or illness during the term of his contract are as follows:
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6. In case of permanent total or partial disability of the seafarer
caused by either injury or illness the seafarer shall be compensated in
accordance with the schedule of benefits enumerated in Section 32 of
this Contract. Computation of his benefits arising from an illness or
disease shall be governed by the rates and the rules of compensation
applicable at the time the illness or disease was contracted.
For disability to be compensable under Section 20(B) of the 2000
POEA-SEC, two elements must concur: ( 1) the injury or illness must
be work-related; and (2) the work-related injury or illness must have
existed during the term of the seafarer's employment contract. In other
words, to be entitled to compensation and benefits under this provision, it is
not sufficient to establish that the seafarer's illness or injury has rendered
him permanently or partially disabled; it must also be shown that there is a
causal connection between the seafarer's illness or injury and the work for
which he had been contracted. 8
The 2000 POEA-SEC defines "work-related injury" as "injury(ies)
resulting in disability or death arising out of and in the course of
employment" and "work-related illness" as "any sickness resulting to
disability or death as a result of an occupational disease listed under
Section 32-A of this contract with the conditions set therein satisfied." 9
For an occupational disease and the resulting disability or death to be
compensable, all of the following conditions must be satisfied:
1.
2.
3.
4.
9
10
The seafarer's work must involve the risks described herein;
The disease was contracted as a result of the seafarer's exposure
to the described risks;
The disease was contracted within a period of exposure and under
such other factors necessary to contract it;
There was no notorious negligence on the part of the seafarer. 10
Department Order No. 4, s. of 2000 is entitled Amended Standard Terms and Conditions
Governing the Employment of Filipino Seafarers On-Board Ocean-Going Vessels.
Magsaysay Maritime Corporation v. NLRC, supra note 6 at 373-374 ..
Id. at 374.
Nisda v. Sea Serve Maritime Agency, G.R. No. 179177, 23 July 2009, 593 SCRA 668, 695.
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