GR 215111; (June, 2018) (Digest)
G.R. No. 215111 , June 20, 2018
ABOSTA SHIPMANAGEMENT CORPORATION, PANSTAR SHIPPING CO., LTD., AND/OR GAUDENCIO MORALES, Petitioners vs. RODEL D. DELOS REYES, Respondent
FACTS
Respondent Rodel Delos Reyes was employed as a bosun by petitioners. In July 2010, he complained of groin pain, was diagnosed with inguinal hernia, and was repatriated. The company-designated physician performed surgery and, on September 2, 2010, declared him fit to work. Almost a year later, in July 2011, respondent consulted an independent physician, Dr. Li-Ann Lara-Orencia, who assessed him with a Grade 1 total permanent disability, stating the hernia prevented a return to his physically demanding job.
The Labor Arbiter and the NLRC dismissed respondent’s complaint for disability benefits, upholding the fit-to-work assessment of the company-designated physician. They emphasized that respondent failed to seek a third doctor’s opinion as required by the POEA-SEC to resolve conflicting assessments. The Court of Appeals reversed, granting disability benefits. It gave credence to the independent physician’s assessment that the illness rendered respondent unfit for his sea duties.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals erred in awarding total and permanent disability benefits to respondent based on the conflicting medical assessments.
RULING
The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the NLRC decision, dismissing the complaint. The legal logic centers on the procedural and substantive rules governing conflicting medical assessments in seafarer disability claims. Under the POEA-SEC and established jurisprudence, the company-designated physician’s assessment enjoys primacy, especially when issued promptly after treatment and based on actual monitoring of the seafarer’s condition. A seafarer who contests this assessment must, under the contract, refer the conflict to a third doctor jointly agreed upon by the parties. The opinion of this third doctor becomes binding.
Here, respondent unilaterally consulted an independent physician nearly a year after being declared fit, without invoking the third-doctor referral process. This failure is fatal to his claim. The Court found the company-designated physician’s fit-to-work assessment, issued shortly after successful surgery and recovery, more credible and compliant with the contractual procedure. The independent physician’s assessment, rendered long after treatment and without the benefit of the mandated referral mechanism, could not supersede it. Consequently, no basis existed for an award of total permanent disability benefits.