BY HERBERT VEGO
WHEN a seaman gets a “fit to work” certification from a shipping agency’s physician but gets seriously sick while on board within his contract period, could his contract be terminated on belated discovery that the seaman had pre-existing disease before boarding vessel?
Whenever such a situation presents itself, the seaman should beware. It could be a ruse aimed at freeing the employer from a contractual obligation.
A seaman’s response should always be to demand for total and permanent disability benefits, assuming his disease would not allow him to resume working, as we shall see in the case of Ambrosio Manalansan.
It all began when Manalansan applied for work as mess man with the shipping agency Anglo-Philippines. He appeared healthy and was confirmed to be so after undergoing the requisite pre-employment medical examination. The company physician thereafter signed his “fit to work” certification.
On Nov. 5, 2012, Manalansan boarded the overseas vessel “MV Karoline” as mess man after signing a nine-month employment contract at a salary of US $430 per month.
Very unfortunately, after only 17 days on the job, Manalansan complained of total body weakness and difficulty in breathing.
The ship physician confined him in his cabin, tethered to an oxygen tank. He was also given oral medicine.
The medication, however, did little to alleviate his condition. Since their ship was nearing the port of Balboa, Panama, the ship master ordered the immediate disembarkation of the mess man for treatment at Clinica Einstein on Dec. 13, 2012.
A Panamanian doctor assessed him to be no longer fit to work and recommended his repatriation to the Philippines for evaluation by an orthopedic surgeon.
Back in Manila, he could no longer walk. His family had to make representation with the shipping agency for further medical assistance.
He knew that the shipping agency was ignoring its responsibility as stipulated in their employer-employee contract.
An agency official, on the contrary, blamed him for allegedly “hiding” his true state of health, insinuating that he had already been sick before his first working day on the ship. And so they had to terminate his contract.
When he disagreed, the company stopped subsidizing his treatment and medicine. And so he borrowed money to have himself treated by a neurosurgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in February 2013. After conducting a series of physical, neurological and laboratory examinations, the doctor certified that the patient’s illness was tuberculosis of the bones.
His doctor’s certificate, however, did not change the position of the ship agency, which insisted that he had been sick before boarding vessel.
It was at this juncture that Manalansan sought the legal help of the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS), which instituted a case for recovery of total and permanent disability benefits before a labor arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission.
FLAS maritime law expert Atty. Pete Linsangan argued that his client, having been certified “fit to work” by the company physician, was entitled to permanent disability benefits amounting to $60,000 plus 120 days of hospital confinement and/or medication at company expense.
The arbiter ruled in Manalansan’s favor, affirming that “a total disability is considered permanent if it lasts continuously for more than 120 days.”
The shipping agency eventually paid Manalansan the cash amount sought and refunded all his medical expenses.
If you have seafaring relatives with labor problem, you may visit the FLAS office at GSAT, 2nd Floor Jamerlan Bldg., Iznart St., Iloilo City or listen to the radio program “Tribuna sang Banwa” on Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo every Sunday, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Program host Neri Camiña may be contacted via cell phone number 09173288742. /PN
