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[ G.R. No. 139997. July 5, 2000]

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated JUL 5, 2000.

G.R. No. 139997 (Prime Marine Services, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, Romeo Pagcaliwagan.)

The instant Petition for Review on Certiorari assails the decision and resolution, dated 18 May and 16 September 1999, respectively, of the Court of Appeals in CA G.R. SP No. 49986.

Romeo Pagcaliwagan (private respondent) was hired by Prime Marine Services, Inc. ("Prime Marine"), for and in behalf of its principal, Kartini Shipping Co., Inc., S.A. to the position of "Able Seaman" on board the M. V. "Aurora Gold," a vessel of Liberian registry, and deployed on 03 June 1994 with a monthly salary of U.S.$365.00.

On 10 October 1994, private respondent was brought to and confined in a hospital in Rio Grande, Brazil, after collapsing while the vessel was docked at the Port of Rio Grande. He was treated and was issued a medical report, denominated RELATORIO, written in Portuguese. The English translation would disclose his having suffered convulsion (convulsive crisis) during his "EEG."

On 19 October 1994, private respondent was repatriated to the country. He was later referred to the S.M. Lazo Medical Center for Checkup. In a report issued by Dr. Fe Bacungan, dated 11 November 1994, he was diagnosed to be suffering from seizure disorder.

On 21 March 1995, private respondent filed a complaint before the Adjudication Office of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), seeking payment for injury Allowance/Medical Benefits equivalent to 120 days of basic salary and for disability benefits. In his affidavit, that accompanied the complaint, he stated that sometime in August of 1994, he met an accident while working on deck the M. V. "Aurora Gold." He was hit by the blades of a scaling machine on the left eye and the impact was so great that "his head vibrated" causing him to lose consciousness. This statement was corroborated by two witnesses.

The case was transferred to the Arbitration Branch of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). On 21 January 1997, the Labor Arbiter rendered a decision finding the injury sustained by the private respondent to be compensable and ordered petitioners therein to pay disability benefits amounting to U.S.$20,900.00.

Aggrieved petitioners appealed to the NLRC, which set aside the 21st January 1997 decision and dismissed the complaint for lack of merit. The Motion for Reconsideration filed by private respondent proved futile. He then elevated the case via a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals which, in its May 1999 decision, granted the petition and reversed NLRC decision of 31 March and order of 16 June 1999 while, at the same time, reinstating the 21st January 1997 decision of the Labor Arbiter. Petitioners' motion for reconsideration was denied. Petitioners filed a "Supplement to Motion for Reconsideration" who proffered that it was lately brought to their attention that before hiring private respondent he had been employed by Barko International, Inc., and worked on board M. T. "Rich Duchess," for and in behalf of Unitra Maritime Co., Inc.; that during that employment he was diagnosed to be suffering from a complex seizure disorder; that he was repatriated to the country on 22 January 1993; that he was admitted at the Metropolitan Hospital on 23 January 1993; that per letter of Dr. Robert D. Lim, Medical Coordinator of the Marine Medical Services of Metropolitan Hospital, dated 07 October 1997, private respondent was deemed unfit to resume his work due to the risk of recurrence especially in stressful situations; and that he was paid disability benefits in the amount of P113,300.00 per the Release and Quitclaim signed by private respondent.1 Rollo, p. 267. The Appellate Court denied the motion for reconsideration for lack of merit.

Prime Marine asseverates in the instant petition that the appellate court has erred in ignoring newly discovered that bears upon the substance of the case.

The appellate court did not. The fact that private respondent had suffered from a complex seizure disorder and was declared "not fit to work," prior to his employment by Prime Marine, should be of no moment. S. M. Lazo Medical Clinic declared him fit to work after a medical examination prior to the assumption of his post on board the M.V. 'Aurora Gold." Most importantly, it had not been established that his seizures were quantified in the computation of his disability benefits. The amount of $20,000.00 would appear to be intended for compensating private respondent for the damage caused to his left eye borne out not only by the Final Neurological Diagnosis in the Medical Summary issued by Dr. Marita Dantes, dated 21 November 1995, but also by the Flourescein Ansiography results.

WHEREFORE, no reversible error on the part of the Court of Appeals having been satisfactorily shown, the herein petition for review on certiorari is denied.