'Implement Magna Carta of PH seafarers properly'

QUEZON CITY 1st District Rep. Arjo Atayde said the newly enacted Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers should be properly implemented to benefit the country's 578,626 seamen. "This Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers Act would bring peace of mind to more than half a million Filipino seafarers and their families, and ensure the protection of our Filipino merchant fleet," Atayde told The Manila Times. "But the challenge to us is to ensure that it is properly implemented so that our sea-based 'kababayan' (countrymen) can maximize the benefits of the law," Atayde, one of the law's authors, added. In 2023, remittances from Filipino seafarers amounted to over $6.8 billion. Atayde, who attended the ceremonial signing of the law in Malacañang on Monday, said he was confident that the Department of Migrant Workers, Department of Labor and Employment, and Maritime Industry Authority would ensure the strict enforcement of the measure. The Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers mandates seamen's rights to self-organization, collective bargaining, educational advancement and training, information and free legal representation. Under the law, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration was tasked to establish seafarer welfare facilities in major crew-change ports, including those in Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, and other areas to be determined by the agency.