Employment Contract ' the only qualification prescribed for the
physician entrusted with the task of assessing the seaman's
disability is that he be company-designated.[26]
cralawDr.
Pidlaoan examined and treated petitioner from the time he was
repatriated up to his recovery and subsequent assessment as fit for duty
on December 13, 2000. As in theGerman Marine case, the extensive
medical attention extended by Dr. Pidlaoan enabled the latter to acquire
familiarity, if not detailed knowledge, of petitioner's medical condition. No
doubt such specialized knowledge enabled Dr. Pidlaoan to arrive at a much
more accurate appraisal of petitioner's condition, as compared to another
physician not privy to petitioner's case from the very beginning.
[27] Indeed, the assessment of the three other personal doctors of
petitioner could not have been that reliable considering that they based
their conclusions on the prior findings of Dr. Pidlaoan; moreover, they
examined petitioner 7 or 8 months after he was assessed as fit to work and
treated him for only one day.
The only requirement stated in the POEA Standard Employment Contract,
as explained in the German Marine case, is that the doctor be companydesignated, and no other. Though it is prudent and advisable to have a
doctor specialized in his field to examine the seafarer's condition ordegree
of illness, the contractual provisions of the parties only require that the
doctor be 'company-designated. When the language of the contract is
explicit, as in the case at bar, leaving no doubt as to the intention of the
drafters thereof, the courts may not read into it any other intention that
would contradict its plain import.[28]
cralaw
Furthermore and most importantly, petitioner did not question the
competency of Dr. Pidlaoan and his assessment when the latter declared
him as fit for duty or fit to work.
cralawAdditionally, petitioner, instead of questioning the assessment of the
company-designated doctor, executed a release and quitclaim in favor
ofrespondents, around three months after the assessment. In executing
the said document, petitioner thus impliedly admitted the correctness of
the assessment of the company-designated physician, and acknowledged
that he could no longer claim for disability benefits.