The seafarer entered into a 6-month employment contract with CTI, through UPLI, to work as a stateroom steward aboard the vessel Carnival Glory. After passing the pre-employment medical examination, he joined the vessel on 26 February 2014.
Sometime in March 2014, the seafarer reported passing out fresh blood during bowel movement but with no fever, abdominal pain or vomiting. He was treated at the vessel infirmary. Thereafter, he was brought to the Charleston Endoscopy Center in South Carolina, USA for colonoscopy. His biopsy, however, indicated “Segments of Invasive Moderately Differentiated Adenocarcinoma.”
On 12 June 2014, the seafarer was medically repatriated. Upon his arrival in Manila, UPLI immediately referred him to the Marine Medical Services for further evaluation and management. Thereafter, the company-designated doctor confirmed that respondent was suffering from “Moderately Differentiated Adenocarcinoma Rectum.” The seafarer underwent a surgical operation (Abdominal Resection) and was subsequently subjected to concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
On 18 January 2016, respondent filed a complaint for permanent total disability benefits against UPLI and CTI.
ULPI and CTI countered that the seafarer’s illness was not compensable because it was not work-related or listed among the occupational diseases under the Amended Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers On-Board Ocean-Going Ships (POEA-SEC). It added that respondent likewise did not prove the causal relation between his illness and his work as stateroom steward.
Should the seafarer be granted his claim for permanent total disability benefits?
The Supreme Court granted the seafarer’s claim for permanent total disability benefits.
The Court cited Section 20 (A) of the POEA-SEC, and ruled that in order for a disability to be compensable, (i) the injury or illness must be work-related; and, (ii) the work-related injury or illness must have existed during the term of the contract of the seafarer. In turn, “work-related illness” pertains to such sickness listed as occupational disease under Section 32-A of the POEA-SEC with the set conditions therein satisfied. An illness not listed as occupational disease is, nonetheless, disputably presumed work-related provided that the seafarer proves, by substantial evidence, that his or her work conditions caused or, at the least, increased his or her having contracted the same.1Ilustricimo v. NYK-Fil Ship Management, Inc., G.R. No. 237487, June 27, 2018.
The Court also emphasized that for a disease to be compensable, the nature of work need not be the only reason for the seafarer to suffer his or her illness. What is crucial is the reasonable connection between the seafarer’s disease and one’s work leading a rational mind to conclude that such work contributed to or aggravated the development of the illness.2Ilustricimo v. NYK-Fil Ship Management, Inc., G.R. No. 237487, June 27, 2018.
On the one hand, the Court found that the seafarer was able to establish a reasonable link between his having suffered rectal cancer and his work. Similarly, he was able to establish that his work conditions increased his having contracted his illness considering that the dietary provision on the vessel (food high in cholesterol and fat and low in fiber) was a known cause of rectal cancer.
The Court mentioned that it has already taken judicial notice of the food provisions on a ship which are produced at one time for long journeys across the oceans and seas. In Skippers United Pacific, Inc. v. Lagne,3G.R. No. 217036, August 20, 2018, the Court recognized that the food provided to seafarers are mostly frozen meat, canned goods and seldom are there vegetables which easily rot and wilt and, therefore, impracticable for long trips. Also, in the case of Jebsens Maritime, Inc. v. Alcibar,4G.R. No. 221117, February 20, 2019. the Court similarly ruled that rectal cancer of therein respondent was work-related as the latter proved that the cause thereof was the poor provisions — high in fat and cholesterol and low in fiber — given to him while at sea. Such poor provisions were on the same level with those given to herein respondent while he was still aboard the vessel. Furthermore, the Court had already pronounced the compensability of colorectal cancer in Leonis Navigation Co., Inc. v. Villamater.5G.R. No. 179169, March 3, 2010, 628 PHIL 81-100. According to the Court, it cannot be gainsaid that the poor diet of the herein seafarer while at sea contributed to his having developed rectal cancer during the term of his employment contract.
On the other hand, the Court also found that although UPLI and CTI argued that the company-designated doctor declared the seafarer’s illness as not work-related, the pronouncement of the company-designated physician had actually bolstered the contention that the seafarer’s diet on the vessel contributed to him having suffered from rectal cancer. The Court highlighted the company-designated physician’s medical report of 14 June 2014 which read:
Adenocarcinoma’s risk factors include age, diet rich in saturated fat; fatty acid and linoleic acid and genetic predisposition and is likely not work-related.6Emphasis supplied.
For the Court such report cited that one of the risk factors of rectal cancer was poor diet. Also, such report did not categorically state that respondent’s illness was not work-related but that it was just likely not work-related without any explanation for saying so.
Further reading:
- United Philippine Lines, Inc. v. Romasanta, Jr., G.R. No. 239256, January 15, 2020.
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