By E. T. Suarez
Thursday, 20 September 2001
Filipino seafarers on board ocean-going vessels remitted over $318 million (about P16.2 billion) in the
four month period from January to April this year higher by 8.82 percent than the $292 million that they remitted during the same period last year.
Labor Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas said some 200,000 Filipino seafarers are working on board international vessels. She said this represents 20 percent of actively employed seafarers in ocean-going ships.
Sto. Tomas said this year's total remittances, taken from Bank Central's data, are projected to surpass those of last year because many seafarers have been granted higher pay.
She said that Japan has remained the biggest employer of Filipino seafarers, accounting for some 25 percent, or some 50,000, of the Filipino seamen deployed overseas yearly.
More Filipino seafarers are expected to be deployed in the future since the Philippines has been pushing to sign bilateral agreements with ocean-going vessels, she said.
The Philippines has so far signed bilateral agreements with Denmark, Brunei, Singapore and the Bahamas. The agreement with Singapore and Brunei was signed by Sto. Tomas during President Gloria M. Arroyo's recent ASEAN visit.
Sto. Tomas, who chairs the inter-agency Maritime Training Council (MTC), has also taken other measures to ensure continued emloyment of Filipino seamen internationally.
The DoLE and MTC are now pushing the issuance of fraud-proof certificates of proficiency and competency to Filipino mariners in coordination with other government agencies.
The MTC has helped catapult the Philippines' inclusion in the International Maritime Organization's White List by Pushing and ensuring its compliance with the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW).
The MTC has already prepared, or printed over 100,000 certificates specially on the basic safety proficiency required on all seamen worldwide.
In addition, the DoLE's Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), a DoLE attached agency like the MTC, is supervising the issuance of certificates of competency and over 69,000 were released within the first eight months of 2001.
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