6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly home because of a "big pain on his left kidney, kidney stones."[47] In their final report dated December 1, 2009,[48] Drs. Lim and Go of the MMC certified that he was first "cleared urologic-wise" upon his repatriation. The NLRC also noted that Conag mentioned no particular incident at work on deck which could have caused his spinal pain. To rule out any spinal injury, pertinent tests were nevertheless conducted, resulting in a diagnosis of "Mild Lumbar Levoconvex Scoliosis and Spondylosis; Right S1 Nerve Root Compression," with an incidental finding of "Gall Bladder Polyposis v. Cholesterolosis." Attached to the report of Drs. Lim and Go is a certificate, also dated December 1, 2009, issued by Dr. William Chuasuan, Jr. (Dr. Chuasuan), Orthopedic and Adult Joint Replacement Surgeon also at MMC, who attended to Conag, that he had "Low Back Pain; Herniated Nucleus Pulposus, L5-S1, Right."[49] In declaring Conag fit to return to work, Dr. Chuasuan noted that he was now free from pain and he had regained full range of trunk movement. He noted "Negative Straight Leg Raising Test. Full trunk range of motion, (-) pain. Fit to return to work."[50] Even considering the inherent merits of the medical certificate issued by Dr. Jacinto on March 20, 2010, the NLRC did not hide its suspicion that his certification was not the result of an honest, bona fide treatment of Conag, but rather one issued out of a short one-time visit. It noted that Dr. Jacinto issued a pro-forma medical certificate,[51] with the blanks filled in his own hand. Dr. Jacinto certified that Conag's condition "did not improve despite medicine," yet nowhere did he specify what medications, therapy or treatments he had prescribed in arriving at his unfit-to-work assessment, nor when and how many times he had treated Conag, except to say, vaguely, "from March 2010 to present," "present" being March 20, 2010, the date of his certificate. No laboratory and diagnostic tests and procedures, if any, were presented which could have enabled him to diagnose him as suffering from lumbar hernia or "Herniated Nucleus Pulposus, L5S1, Right" as the cause of his permanent disability. There is no proof of hospital confinement, laboratory or diagnostic results, treatments and medical prescriptions shown which could have helped the company-designated physicians in re-evaluating their assessment of Conag's fitness. When Dr. Jacinto said that "[Conag's] symptoms [were] aggravated due to his work which entails carrying heavy loads," he obviously relied merely on Conag's account about what allegedly happened to him aboard ship nine months earlier. This Court is thus inclined to concur with the NLRC that on the basis solely of Conag's story, Dr. Jacinto made his assessment that he was "physically unfit to work as a seafarer." In Coastal Safeway Marine Services, Inc. v. Esguerra,[52] this Court rejected the medical certifications upon which the claimant-seaman anchored his claim for disability benefits, for being unsupported by diagnostic tests and procedures which would have effectively disputed the results of the medical examination in a foreign clinic to which he was referred by his employer. In Magsaysay Maritime Corporation and/or Dela Cruz, et al. v. Velasquez, et al.,[53] the Court brushed aside the evidentiary value of a recommendation made by the doctor of the seafarer which was "based on a single medical report which outlined the alleged findings and medical history" of the claimantseafarer.[54] In Montoya v. Transmed Manila Corporation/Mr. Ellena, et al.,[55] the elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/61899 7/12