Japan vows to support Filipino seafarers

Japanese ship owners will continue to provide assistance and training to Filipino seafarers, the head of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Friday, adding that the welfare of the country’s sea workers is one of the labor policies of President Benigno Aquino 3rd. In a statement, newly appoin-ted Labor Secretary Rosa-linda Baldoz said that Japanese ship owners are particularly focusing in helping in the training of Filipino seafarers.

“Mr. [Koji] Miyahara has expressed the continuing support of the JSA [Japanese Shipowners Association]
to the Philippines. He said JSA members will continue to employ Filipino seafarers in the next several years,” Baldoz said.

The new secretary made the announcement after a brief courtesy call by Miyahara, president of the JSA.

“He also gave us assurance that the JSA continues to support the government of Japan’s cooperative efforts with the Philippine government in protecting seafarers against piracy,” she added.

Baldoz also said that Japan will soon be floating more large ocean-going vessel and will recruit Filipino seafarers to man them. Japan has slowly been moving toward an economic recovery following the effect of the global economic crunch last year.

“It is in the continuing employment of Filipino seafarers and their protection that the JSA and the [Labor department] will focus its modes of cooperation and I assured the JSA, through Mr. Mihayara, that I will convey this to President Aquino,” she said.

Filipino seafarers compose almost 30 percent of the 1.5 million sea workers around the world. The country is also considered to have the biggest manpower when it comes to seafarers.

Japan is one of the biggest employers of Filipino seafarers and the JSA—the country’s largest association of local and domestic ship owners with over a hundred member-companies. Japan also works closely with the country’s manning agencies in the recruitment and deployment of thousands of Filipino maritime workers. It is also a strong cooperative partner of the Philippines in seafarer training and education. –BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON, Manila TImes