By HERBERT VEGO
HAVING been on board an ocean-going vessel for a decade, a marine engineer got the shock of his life when he was pronounced “no longer fit to work” but with no disability compensation to receive. He knew it was not a fair deal.
Facing the more serious problem of starving his family for life, he fought to be paid US $80,000 as permanent and total disability benefits. But that’s getting ahead of the story.
After working for 10 long years for Albar Shipping and Trading Corporation, Henry A. Dy was assigned to board the company’s biggest ship, MV Oceanic Angel, on a nine-month contract as first assistant engineer with a salary of US $1,149 a month. Naturally, before boarding vessel, he had been certified “fit to work” by the company-designated physician.
While the vessel was navigating, Dy noticed that his legs and feet were swelling. At the same time, he was experiencing heart palpitation and difficulty of breathing. He tried to act normally, nevertheless.
In a month’s time, he could no longer hide his predicament. Both the ship captain and the ship doctor advised him to undergo thorough laboratory procedures as soon as their ship would have reached its port of call in Bombay, India.
A doctor at a Bombay clinic prescribed him a number of medicines but also assessed him to be “unfit to board” his vessel. He recommended repatriation to Manila for further medical intervention.
At company expense, Dy was confined at the Medical Center Manila. An x-ray and an echocardiogram proved that he was suffering from congestive heart disease. It is among the diseases identified as ground for terminating the services of sick seamen.
Accepting the hospital verdict that he had become “unfit to work,” he filed a claim for total and permanent disability benefits of US $80,000. The company denied the claim without any formal explanation. Obviously, the management thought he would settle for a smaller areglo.
No way. Dy would have nothing of it. He wanted such sufficient amount as would enable him to see his children through college.
It was at this point that he consulted with the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS). No less than the most famous maritime lawyer, Pete Linsangan, advised him to take up his problem for arbitration.
An arbiter at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), to their surprise, sided with Albar Shipping on the flimsy ground that he had kept his disease to himself.
Atty. Linsangan knew his client would have been the last person to keep a “secret” out of a disease that could end his life while at sea. Besides, the company would not have certified him “fit to work” before boarding.
Dy thereafter appealed his case for hearing, which the First Division of NLRC did. Based on medical records submitted as evidence, NLRC agreed with complainant that his long years of service with the company had gradually caused his hyperthyroidism and congestive heart failure.
The NLRC ruled in Henry Dy’s favor by commanding Albar Shipping to pay him US $60,000 as total and permanent disability benefits, or P2,640,000 as equivalent in Philippine currency today.
The ruling jibed with an oft-quoted a Supreme Court observation over an earlier case: “Disability should not be understood more on its medical significance but on the loss of earning capacity.”
Ilonggo seamen similarly situated may also avail themselves of the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS) through Neri Camiña, who hosts the radio program Tribuna sang Banwa aired on Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo every Sunday, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. He may be contacted by cell phone number 0917-3288742./PN
