A bill seeking a comprehensive state program to protect and promote the welfare and interest of Filipino seafarers and their families has been filed at the House of Representatives.
Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte underscored the relevance of the measure, saying the Philippines was known as top producer of seafarers in the world.
“Among the 1.6 million seafarers across the globe, 400,000 of them are Filipinos, accounting for $6.14 billion, or 19 percent of the overall remittances in 2018,” Duterte said.
Duterte and Benguet Rep. Eric Yap filed House Bill 1758 meant to improve the Filipino seafarers’ working conditions, terms of employment, career
prospects and provide opportunities to harness their full potentials.
The measure also aims to further promulgate policies and programs to uplift the socioeconomic well-being of the families of Filipino sailors.
Duterte stressed that despite being a community with a significant contribution to the country’s economy, Filipino seafarers remain under-represented as there are still persisting repetitive drudgery and risk in working conditions, illegal recruitment, lack of onshore welfare services and social protection, and insufficient medical care in their field.
He also noted the absence of an enabling legislation that would institutionalize the seamen’s rights and privileges.
“The Philippines is a party to the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC), an international agreement which seeks to promote the protection of the seafarer’s rights to decent working conditions,” Duterte said.
HB 1758 also seeks to adopt and strengthen the general provisions stated in the MLC in order to primarily guarantee the rights and welfare of the country’s Filipino seafarers, Duterte added.
To lighten the burden of mariners in processing their documents, the measure also proposes the establishment of an integrated document processing center, to be known as the Philippine Seafarer One-Stop Processing Center (PSOC), which would assist the seamen and the general public.
The PSOC is envisioned to create pilot centers in strategic areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao that are identified as having the highest concentration of seafarers.
The data gathered for the PSOC would be made accessible to andutilized by the maritime sector and stakeholders, Duterte said. Maricel V. Cruz
