DoLE boosts aid to seafarers

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz announced Monday that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is fast-tracking efforts to ensure a decent work and labor standards in the local maritime industry involving an estimated 40,000 domestic Filipino seafarers.

Baldoz said the tripartite body — consisting of the labor, management, and government partners of the country’s maritime industry — focused on this issue during the fourth plenary Maritime Industry Tripartite Council (MITC) meeting Monday held at the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) Convention Hall in Intramuros Manila.

She disclosed that the meeting approved two MITC resolutions that would endorse the issuance of an appropriate DoLE department order for the rules and regulations governing the employment and working conditions of domestic seafarers and the Philippines’ ratification of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006.

International Labour Standards Department (NORMES) Director Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry of the ILO-Geneva also discussed the overview and updates on the MLC 2006 during the plenary, which was attended by the social partners of the Philippines’ maritime industry, alongside both local and international stakeholders, and other observers.

Also sharing their insights during the plenary were Conrado F. Oca, president of AMOSUP; lawyer Democrito Mendoza, president of the Philippine Seafarers Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines; Carlo N. Leonio, chairman and president of the Philippine Interisland Shipping; and Eduardo U. Manese, chairman of the Joint Manning Group.

The MLC 2006 provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. It aims to achieve both decent work for seafarers and secure economic interests in fair competition for quality shipowners.

Baldoz emphasized the importance of ratifying the MLC 2006 for the Philippines. “This affirms the country’s standing as the manning capital of the world with its 250,000 overseas Filipino seafarers, who comprise 25 to 30 percent of global shipping fleet’s manning complement, and are thus, the driving force behind the ships that handle the world’s trade,” she said, during the Forum-Consultation on the MLC 2006 in August. –SARAH HILOMEN-VELASCO, Manila Bulletin