Seafarers

The country is still producing too many maritime graduates who cannot be absorbed by the world market. When maritime schools advertise their services to, “sail around the world and earn in dollars,” parents who spend thousands of pesos for tuition fees and other cost must be warned of such empty promises.

The Philippines has officially become the 30th member-state of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to ratify the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006, dubbed the international seafarers’ bill of rights.

The ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention has now been ratified by 30 countries, meaning it will go into effect in a year’s time. The charter sets out the labour rights of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers.

MANILA, Philippines – Good news to Filipino seafarers aspiring to work in foreign vessels. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has affirmed the Philippines’ compliance with global seafaring standards for the third time this decade through its “white list,” Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday.

The Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden (Djibouti Code of Conduct) was today (6 July 2012) signed on behalf of Mozambique by His Excellency Carlos dos Santos, High Commissioner of the Republic of Mozambique in the United Kingdom.

MANILA, Philippines – From modern-day hero to heel: that’s effectively how a legislator describes reckless seafarers who access commercial sex abroad and pass on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to their family back home.

MANILA, Philippines – The European Union has put off for at least a year a ban on Filipino seafarers on board European EU-registered ships.

PH to lose $700M in remittances MANILA, Philippines—Filipino seamen could be banned from European ships and the Philippines could lose $700 million in remittances if “deficiencies” in the seamen’s training and education were not addressed, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) warned on Thursday.

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.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino sailors aboard foreign merchant ships sent home via bank wire a record $4.34 billion in remittances in 2011, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) announced in a statement Sunday.

Known as “the crewing capital of the world,” with more than 300,000 Filipinos working on maritime decks all over the globe, the Philippines must prioritize the ratification of Maritime Labor Convention of 2006 (MLC 2006), according to Bantay OCW maritime lawyer Dennis Gorecho.

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s ship crewing sector has called for the immediate ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006 in which the ILO introduces a number of major amendments to existing international regulations involving ships crews’ welfare.

BRUSSELS – The Philippines is bent on preventing at all costs a decision by the European Union (EU) to withdraw certification rights for over 240,000 Filipino seafarers from vessels registered in any EU member state if it feels the level of training and non-compliance issues are still not addressed by the country.

BRUSSELS – The European Union’s decision on whether the Philippines is complying with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) is expected to come out next month, with an unfavorable outcome seen to stop shipping firms from hiring Filipino seamen.

Filipino seafarers working in various international shipping vessels are expected to reach 400,000 at the end of the year, the Philippines’ envoy to London said but lamented of their continuous exposure to incessant kidnap-for-ransom activities by pirates off African waters, one of the world’ major trading routes.

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated 40,000 domestic seafarers onboard Philippine registered ships are expected to benefit from the government’s program to ensure decent work and labor standards in the local maritime industry.

TAURANGA, New Zealand: A New Zealand court heard of fears for the safety of Filipino officers from a stricken container ship Wednesday as a firebrand politician told protesters its captain should “hang”.

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.

TAURANGA, New Zealand: Fears grew on Wednesday that a ship stuck on a New Zealand reef would break up and release a new wave of pollution, as its two chief officers were charged over the nation’s worst oil spill.

MANILA, Philippines — Stakeholders in the maritime industry have affirmed their preference for voluntary arbitration as a better mode of dispute resolution following the signing of an agreement covering various issues and concerns affecting the shipping sector.

MANILA, Philippines – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said it expects Filipino sailors’ remittances to surpass $4 billion this year “amid resilient global demand for their services.”

MANILA, Philippines – Despite a weakening global economy, demand for services of Filipino sailors remains high, and a leading labor center expects this to be reflected in the money they send home for the entire 2011, projected at $4 billion.

Japan has reaffirmed its 2009 commitment to protect Filipino seafarers, among other foreign sailors, from pirates operating off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden in east Africa.

With the rise of Internet usage as a basic human right, a seafarers’ advocacy group in the Philippines held a three-day seminar on information and communications technology (ICT) to help seafarers in reporting human rights and labor abuse cases.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment has brought to the International Labor Organization its complaint against the Greek owners of a ship for abandonment of 12 Filipino seafarers in Spain.

Recognizing the contribution of seafarers to the economy of the Philippines, dubbed the “crewing capital of the world,” the Aquino administration on Thursday vowed to provide more scholarships for the children of mariners.

THE Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) are among the major problems plaguing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including seamen, today.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday said Filipino seamen retained their status as world-class seafarer after the International Maritime Organization (IMO) maintained the Philippines on the global maritime body’s so-called “White List,” the maritime sector’s “reference bible” in seafaring excellence.

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has assured Filipino seafarers of more job opportunities abroad after the country retained its “White List” standing from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) amid the looming threat of an employment ban in Europe.

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