G.R. No. 223035 , February 27, 2017
REYNALDO Y. SUNIT, Petitioner, vs. OSM MARITIME SERVICES, INC., DOF OSM MARITIME SERVICES A/S, and CAPT. ADONIS B. DONATO, Respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Reynaldo Sunit was hired as an Able Body Seaman. During his employment, he fell and fractured his right femur, leading to his medical repatriation. Upon arrival, he was treated by the company-designated physician, who, after 92 days, issued an interim disability assessment of Grade 10. Dissatisfied, Sunit consulted his own doctor, who recommended a Grade 3 disability. The company doctor later issued a final Grade 10 assessment. The parties, during proceedings before the Labor Arbiter, agreed to seek a third opinion from Dr. Lyndon Bathan, who, in February 2014, issued a Grade 9 disability assessment and stated Sunit was “not yet fit to work.”
The Labor Arbiter awarded benefits based on the third doctor’s Grade 9 assessment. The NLRC reversed, awarding permanent total disability benefits of $150,000. It reasoned that since the third doctor’s assessment was issued after the lapse of the 240-day period from repatriation, Sunit should be deemed permanently and totally disabled. The Court of Appeals reinstated the Labor Arbiter’s decision, holding that the 240-day period pertains only to the company-designated physician’s assessment, which was timely issued, and does not apply to the third doctor’s opinion.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that the petitioner is not entitled to permanent total disability benefits.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the Court of Appeals. The legal logic centers on the proper application of the POEA-SEC rules regarding disability assessment. The 240-day period for determining fitness to work or degree of disability is a mandate specifically imposed on the company-designated physician. This period is crucial; failure to issue a final assessment within it results in a presumption of permanent total disability. In this case, the company-designated physician issued a final Grade 10 assessment well within the 240-day period, thereby complying with the procedural rule and precluding the automatic classification of total permanent disability.
The appointment of a third doctor, as provided under the POEA-SEC, is a conflict-resolution mechanism triggered when the seafarer disagrees with the company doctor’s assessment. The third doctor’s role is to issue a final and binding evaluation on the degree of disability, not to re-open the issue of timeliness. Since the company doctor’s assessment was timely, the seafarer’s disability is to be graded based on the third doctor’s binding evaluation, which was Grade 9—a partial permanent disability. The third doctor’s assessment having been rendered after 240 days is immaterial; what controls is that the company doctor fulfilled his duty within the prescribed period. Therefore, petitioner is entitled only to the benefit corresponding to Grade 9 disability.