Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte proposed House Bill No. 1758 to strengthen the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers and to better protect them and their families. 

According to Duterte, the Philippines is known for its top seafarer producer across the globe. He also added that amongst the 1.6 million seafarers, 400,000 of them are Filipinos. 

Along with Rep. Eric Yap, he intended to improve the daily lives of the Filipino seafarers in employment, career perspective, and providing opportunities to nurture their own skills. 

Duterte reiterated that the Filipino seafarers are still at risk with their working conditions, issues with illegal recruitment, lack of onshore welfare services, and also social protection. 

“The Philippines is a state party to the Maritime Labor Convention, an international agreement which seeks to promote the protection of the seafarer’s rights to decent working conditions. Hence, as a state party in this international agreement and pursuant to Section 2, Article II of the 1987 Constitution which highlights the policy of the state to adopt generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land, the country is set to uphold and abide by the said provisions.” Duterte said.

House Bill No. 1758 for Filipino seafarers also proposes to build an integrated processing document center known as the Philippine Seafarer One-Stop Processing Center (PSOC) to assist the Filipino seafarers and the public. 

The data gathered by the PSOC shall be utilized by the maritime sectors and stakeholders. 

Photo Credit: Facebook/basteduterteofficial