It has taken no less than the President of the Republic to act on a proposed legislation that Congress should have enacted a long time ago because of its sheer importance to the welfare of the overseas Filipino workers, in particular the seafarers.
The Presidential move has come by way of a priority certification for the Magna Carta for Seafarers bill at the Senate. This means the Upper Chamber must now act on the proposal with urgency because so much are at stake: not only the livelihood of seafarers and their families but also the Philippines’ compliance to its treaties with its trading partners, not to mention the billions of dollars these OFWs remit and contribute to keep the economy afloat.
Malacanang issued the certification addressed to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on September 25.
Senate Bill 2221 or the Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers is pending on second reading while its counterpart measure in the House of Representatives has been approved on third and final reading since March this year.
Why the need for a certification and Senate action? It must be pointed out that the Filipino seafarers are facing the risk of losing their jobs and remittances from Europe and European-flagged ships if that continent strictly imposes its maritime rules on training and accreditation. In other words, we sorely lack the tools of trade, according to European standards. It would be like a double whammy on OFWs coming off the devastating impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.
President Marcos Jr. cites the need “to address recurring deficiencies in our domestic laws pertaining to the training and accreditation of thousands of Filipino seafarers which endanger their employment in the European market in particular, and the global maritime arena in general.”
The Congress bill, Marcos says, “guarantees to the international community that the Philippines will comply with its obligations of ensuring that our training, facilities, and equipment are at par with international standards and those set by relevant conventions.” This is how crucial the bill is, to every Filipino sailor.
Consider the data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas: In 2021, OFWs brought in $38.8 billion in total remittances, a record- setting amount equivalent to 8.9% of the Gross Domestic Product which measures total Philippine output.
Of the 11 million OFWs, the land-based ones raked in $24.8 billion while seafarers added another $6.5 billion. Those in Bahrain contributed $225 million and the sea-based ones, $225 million. In Europe, OFWs accounted for a sizable $3.7 billion while seafarers remitted home $2.03 billion. Pinoy sailors in EU added $1.4 billion to the total remittances. The issue of Magna Carta for Seafarers is something not to be sneezed at, or ignored by the lawmakers who Filipinos elected to office on high hopes these senators will act according to their best interest. To think that OFWs are supposed to be the modern-day heroes of the republic!
As the cliché goes, time waits for no one. Not even for the Europeans who are just about ready and raring to enforce their will on the hapless OFWs. In this sense, our very own senators should not bide their own sweet time. Legislative action should be the first order of the day; inquiries in aid of legislation can wait.
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Iraq isn’t a hard place
Plans are afoot for the lifting of a three-year-old ban on the deployment of OFWs to Iraq. This surfaced during a recent meeting held by a joint committee meeting of Filipino and Iraqi officials in Manila, the first in ten years.
Ambassador Charlie Pacana Manangan relayed the news to congressmen during the bicameral commission on appointments about his posting to Iraq. Reacting to Baghdad’s request for the lifting of the ban, Rep. Luis Villafuerte suggested that only the highly skilled workers should be deployed to that war-torn country. Manangan seconded, adding that a complete assessment of the Iraqi situation must first be made. The diplomat said a “relatively stable situation” is prevailing in Iraq, citing embassy sources.
Manangan said most OFWs who have been deployed to Iraq are employed as service workers of hotels, support staff for US military personnel, medical workers and oil workers.
The CA confirmed the appointment of Manangan, apparently for being on the ball as far as Iraq and OFW deployment are concerned.
While it may be prudent to field the OFWs in Iraq sooner than later, this must be done with thorough planning and extra precautionary measures to avoid abuses on all fronts.
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Tale of woe: A trip to hell
From Myanmar to Thailand and then back to Manila. That’s the circuitous route an OFW took before regaining his freedom. It all began when the OFW, in his quest for a lucrative job to end his family’s miserable living, landed in Thailand.
There, “Gio” (the name given to him by Immigration bureau), fell victim to a trafficking syndicate.
Gio was forced to work as scammer in Myanmar. Probably with the syndicate men’s gun to his head, Gio worked as online love scammer luring foreigners to invest in cryptocurrency accounts. His ordeal ended after he paid the syndicate P200,000.00 for his freedom.
Tales of woe like this abound but the sad and tragic thing is that many never learn their lesson.
It’s going to be one hell of a trip if you insist on quick fixes and take the short cut.
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Congratulations to the management and editors of the “Pinoy Aksiyon News” for coming out with this Manila-based print edition. It’s about time. By the way, I have come full circle with this print edition since I began building up my journalism career around 1980s. My first job was to write for a magazine that focused on “labor export.” (The term OFW wasn’t the norm then.) It was short-lived because after a few months, I was able to join the mainstream newspaper, brimming with confidence. The rest is history.
