‘The local shipping industry fears that the Magna Carta will cover all Philippine-flagged ships and be binding on all Filipino shipowners who have on their ships Filipino crew, and yet may not be binding on ships with foreign flags and/or owners.’
IN the Senate now is a measure that seeks to champion the rights and employment status of Filipino seafarers, both those working in local ships and most especially those in international vessels.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Joel Villanueva and supported by Senators Juan Edgardo Angara and Ronald dela Rosa, among others, and will be submitted to plenary for debates. As a sector of organized labor, seamen compose a formidable voting force — 230,000 individuals. They can cast their votes abroad and being breadwinners, their choices are influential in their family members’ voting preference.
There are 1.6 million seafarers all over the world, and Filipinos compose 14.4 percent of this number. The original Magna Carta bill was filed by Sen. Edgardo Angara almost two decades ago, and it is thus understandable that his senator-son is pushing it.
Villanueva’s Senate Bill 2369 is good because it upholds the privileges of Filipino seafarers such as the right to just terms and conditions of work; to engage in collective bargaining, democratic exercises, consultation, etc. It is nothing but an adoption of the Maritime Labor Convention of 2006 (MLC 2006).
The problem is Philippine laws are not usually applicable to foreign-flagged vessels and so our manning agencies and Department of Labor and Employment still have to negotiate or lobby with foreign employers for our own Magna Carta to be respected.
And since local ship owners are affected, too, they will have to shell out additional expenses such as increases in salaries of apprentices approximating the pay of regular employees.
The local shipping industry fears that the Magna Carta will cover all Philippine-flagged ships and be binding on all Filipino shipowners who have on their ships Filipino crew, and yet may not be binding on ships with foreign flags and/or owners.
The Philippine Coastwise Shipping Association (PCSA) has warned it will stop accepting maritime apprenticeship if the Magna Carta bill becomes a law. If this happens, it would be disastrous for the industry, including maritime schools, for we will be producing thousands of graduates without proper on-deck training.
The Association of Licensed Manning Agencies (ALMA) supports the bill as far as it concerns seafarers’ rights, but the group is asking the senators to delete provisions that will clearly hurt the local shipping industry.
It is up to the senators to review this bill in the light of its future impact on the industry, not just its short-term relevance to the current election campaign.
