A Philippine politician has filed a “Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers”, the document includes, among other lofty provisions, a comprehensive definition of their employment and economic rights and mandates 15 government agencies to actively promote, professionalize and prepare the seafarers for the 21st century maritime industry.
A Philippine politician has filed a “Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers”, the document includes, among other lofty provisions, a comprehensive definition of their employment and economic rights and mandates 15 government agencies to actively promote, professionalize and prepare the seafarers for the 21st century maritime industry.
The “Angara bill” lists 17 items on the rights of seafarers alone, seeks best business practices acts from foreign ship owners recruiting Filipino merchant marine officers and urges all stakeholders to adopt all the international conventions and standards on seafarers’ welfare, especially those on compensation and wages.
The bill also seeks to rein in the fees and the cumbersome procedures that merchant marine officers face when seeking employment or re-deployment, mostly from government agencies and local placement companies.
The context for filing the Magna Carta, Angara said, are two realities: The huge economic contribution of the seafarers on one hand and the glaring failure of the existing labor laws and legislation to safeguards their specific, sectoral interests on the other hand. In 2009, Angara said, Filipino seamen remitted $3.4 billion or 20 percent of total remittances for that year. Angara said labor laws and social legislation, including the Overseas Filipinos and Migrant Workers Act, are focused on land-based workers and the merchant marine workers with specific needs are hardly recognized.
“Special laws must be crafted explicitly for the benefit of Filipino seafarers as their circumstances are unique from either the OFWs or the mainstream labor force,” Angara said in the explanatory note of House Bill No. 566. Among those in the 17 items under seafarers rights are just compensation and the right to work under humane conditions. Included are the right to self-organization and collective bargaining, the right to legal representation, the right to repatriation and the right against discrimination. The right not to be charged in cases of pollution and ship accidents is also covered, as is the right to speeding processing of papers and claims.
On the role of government agencies, the Angara bill tasks the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to expand its traditional role of repatriating trapped or stranded seamen and helping those in distress. The Magna Carta mandates the DFA to encourage other countries in ratifying the MLC of 2006, the international convention that provides for comprehensive protection of seafarers across the globe. The DFA, according to the bill, shall endeavor to promote uniform occupational safety and health protection rules across countries and ensure that Filipino seafarers are paid the minimum wage or above based on accepted international standards. In cases of pay disputes, the DFA is asked to provide legal assistance to Filipino seafarers. The Department of Labor and Employment is tasked with making sure that minimum wages accepted internationally are applied on Filipinos working on board overseas ships. It is also directed to put up a data base on Filipino seafarers under an integrated documentation scheme. The Commission on Higher Education (Ched), the Tesda and the Maritime Training Council, are under the bill, in charge of maritime training and education, from upgrading the curriculum to upgrading the quality and navigational tools of maritime schools and training centers. The bill aims to develop a huge pool of 21st century seafarers fully skilled to work aboard modern-generation merchant marine ships. The Ched, in coordination with the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at UP, shall put up an interdisciplinary research and resource center on seafarers and maritime affairs. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is, under the bill, tasked with processing and approving employment contracts and seeing to it that the terms are in line with the MLC of 2006 and the provisions in the draft Magna Carta. It is also tasked with undertaking pre-employment and pre-departure orientations free of charge and prepare the programs for the effective use of the seafarers’ welfare fund.
The bill limits the expenses to be shouldered by seamen-applicants to their personal documents such as passport and seaman’s book and medical certifications. The other costs such as the visa requirement shall be paid by the ship principals. Illegal fees are reimbursable as are the fees and charges paid by the applicant in cases of non-deployment.
The bill seeks to remove all “duplicative documentations” that have been a great burden to seafarers seeking employment or merely renewing their legal papers. Manning agencies are tasked with informing the seafarers they recruit with the details of their contracts and work employment, while making sure that they are paid according to the MLC of 2006 and Philippine labor laws.
They are prohibited from altering the employment contracts approved and processed by the POEA. The bill also seeks the strengthening of the Legal Assistance Fund for distressed seafarers. It seeks the implementation of a comprehensive, adequately-funded retraining and re-integration program for unemployed seamen and those who return home for good.
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