TUCP: Pinoy seamen sending more money

MANILA, Philippines – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) disclosed that Filipino seafarers on board foreign vessels have sent more money to their families than land-based workers abroad.

TUCP, the country’s largest labor organization, over the weekend said remittances from seamen grew three times faster than land-based workers.

TUCP president Ernesto Herrera said Filipino seafarers sent a record $4.340 billion in 2011, an increase of $534 million or 14 percent from the 2010 figure.

“The remittance growth was due to increased deployment, coupled with the dollar’s decline,” Herrera explained.

Herrera said the US currency’s depreciation meant that every dollar sent home by sailors produced fewer pesos.

“Sailors have to send more dollars to their families here just to provide them the same amount of pesos they were receiving the previous year for living expenses,” he pointed out.

Based on Bangko Sentral ng Piliinas (BSP) data, the peso averaged 43.31 to a dollar in 2011 compared to 45.11 in 2010. Thus, every dollar yielded 4.15 percent less pesos last year. The peso closed Friday at 42.61 to a dollar.

“The advantage of skilled staff is that they enjoy superior conditions of employment. Because their skills cannot be easily replaced, they tend to be treated well by employers, unlike domestic helpers,” Herrera said.

The Philippines has been the world’s chief supplier of sailors since 1987. Some 375,000 Filipinos comprise one-fourth of the estimated 1.5 million merchant mariners worldwide.

The top 10 sources of remittances from Filipino sailors in 2011 were: the United States ($2.437 billion), Norway ($294.076 million), the United Kingdom ($285.754 million), Japan ($268.414 million), Germany ($211.916 million), Greece ($192.527 million), Singapore ($175.312 million), Hong Kong ($72.341 million), Cyprus ($53.294 million), and the Netherlands ($44.889 million).

The $534-million jump in remittances from sailors accounted for 40 percent of the cumulative increase in cash transfers from all Filipino workers abroad, based both on land and sea, last year.

The BSP previously reported that remittances from all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hit $20.116 billion in 2011, higher by $1.354 billion, or 7.21 percent, than the $18.762 billion in 2010.

Land-based OFWs sent home $15.776 billion, or $820 million higher than the $14.956 billion they remitted in 2010. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)