Hontiveros seeks passage of Magna Carta for Seafarers

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has filed Senate Bill No. 357, her version of the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, expressed confidence that the bill will not only "provide greater protections for the rights and welfare of Filipino seafarers," but also "enhance their skills and competitiveness amid the challenges faced by the sea-based overseas worker sector."

According to a release from her office on Wednesday, Hontiveros is optimistic that the Senate “will respond to the pleas of Filipino seafarers everywhere for a law that will better promote their rights and interests.”

“The country has benefited much from the hard work of its maritime overseas workers," the lawmaker said. "It is time that we pay back their efforts with a law that will shield them from abuses and unjust work conditions, and at the same time ensure that they will stay at the top of the global market for maritime professionals."

According to Hontiveros, her bill implements the provisions of the International Labor Organization’s Maritime Labor Convention 2006, which the Philippines has signed.

"The bill thus mandates that Filipino seafarers —including those working on foreign-registered ships—have the right to decent and safe working conditions, the right to fair compensation, the right to organize and the right to free legal representation," the release said.

The lawmaker also said the bill "requires that seafarers be given access to training and other competence-building programs at affordable and reasonable costs."

It also provides for procedures to enforce the right to seafarers' repatriation and reintegration, Hontiveros added.

Moreover, she said the bill "explicitly tasks" government agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to protect Filipino seafarers.

The senator said employers and other parties who will violate the provisions of the proposed bill will be faced with hefty fines or imprisonment.

Hontiveros stressed that the reforms under the bill are crucial to make sure that Filipino seafarers will not lose their “professional advantage” in the international maritime workforce market as this will affect livelihood and remittances.

Based on OWWA reports, the number of Filipino seafarers deployed around the world has decreased by as much as 64,748 workers between 2016 and 2017, she said.

“Huwag sana natin hayaang malubog sa kawalan ang kabuhayan ng libo-libo nating kababayang tripulante at marinero," Hontiveros finished.

Meanwhile, at the House of Representatives, Marino party-list Representative Carlo "Sandro" Gonzalez on July 17 filed House Bill 2318 or the Magna Carta for Seafarers Act of 2019.

Gonzalez said the Magna Carta for Seafarers outlines the rights of seafarers as well as the measures to be implemented by concerned government agencies to protect them. —Margaret Claire Layug/KG, GMA News