Fair Shipping vs. Medel

FAIR SHIPPING CORP., and/or KOHYU MARINE CO., LTD., Petitioners, 
vs.
JOSELITO T. MEDEL, Respondent.

 G.R. No. 177907               August 29, 2012

On OCT. 23, 1998, respondent Joselito T. Medel was hired by petitioner Fair Shipping Corp. for and in behalf of its foreign principal Kohyu Marine Co., LTD. as an able seaman of the vessel M/V Optima for 12 months. On Nov. 27, 1998, he began the performance of his duties. On March 1, 1999, the M/V Optima was docked at the Port of Vungtao in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. During emergency drills aboard the vessel, one of Medel’s co-workers lost control of the manual handle of a lifeboat, causing the same to turn uncontrollably and strike Medel in the forehead.

After a series of medical examinations, treatments and procedure, Medel claimed from petitioners the payment of permanent total disability benefits. Petitioners refused to grant his claim. Consequently, Medel filed a complaint against petitioners, for among others, disability benefits.

            The Labor Arbiter issued a decision in favor of Medel, holding that Medel is entitled to a disability benefits. It emphasized that Medel suffered injury that was sustained by him during the effectivity of his shipboard employment contract and while engaged in the performance of his contracted duties.

            The Court of Appeals cited the Court’s ruling in Crystal Shipping, Inc. v. Natividad, the Court of Appeals stated that an award of permanent total disability benefits is proper when an employee is unable to perform his customary work for more than 120 days. Since Medel’s accident rendered him incapable of performing his usual or customary work for more than 120 days, the Court of Appeals concluded that he was entitled to permanent total disability benefits.

HELD:

            Following the guidelines laid down in Vergara, it is evident that the maximum 240-day medical treatment period expired in this case without a declaration of Medel’s fitness to work or the existence of his permanent disability determined.

            Accordingly, Medel’s temporary total disability should be deemed permanent and thus, he is entitled to permanent total disability benefits.

            The Supreme Court correlates the provision of the POEA SEC with the pertinent labor laws and rules, and cited the case of Vergara v. Hammonia Maritime Services, Inc. It teaches that “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.”

            A temporary total disability only becomes permanent when so declared by the company physician within the periods he is allowed to do so, or upon the expiration of the maximum 240-day medical treatment period without a declaration of either fitness to work or the existence of a permanent disability.