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SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 TINIG NG MARINO 1 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010 http://www.ufs.ph PHP 15.00 2 TINIG NG MARINO SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 TINIG NG MARINO 3 A LAW ALL ITS OWN UFS Revives Lobby for Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers he United Filipino Seafarers (UFS) prior to the enactment of RA 8042, it came has taken the initiative to revive the out as a surprise in the local maritime Tlegislative lobby for the passage industry that their inputs were hardly Engr. Ramirez of the UFS was among the offi cers of the Philippine Association of Migrant Workers into law of the Magna Carta of Filipino considered in the fi nal wordings of the and Advocates (PAMWA) who made a courtesy call on Rep. Emmeline Aglipay (fourth from left) Seafarers, which has been a long-sought law. and her staff at the Ramon Mitra Building at the Batasang Pambansa. Also on hand (from right) are dream for the local seafaring industry. Although the local maritime industry is Dr. Joe Kasim of DAMLAG, FE Nicodemus of KAKAMPI, Sister. Bernadette Guzman of the Center for Overseas Filipino Workers, Atty. Kate Sabado and Atty. Francis Ballesteros. The major stakeholders in the local considered a bankable and quite prolifi c maritime industry have long drafted and sector of the pushed for the enactment of the Magna general migrant Carta of Filipino Seafarers which shall workers or the govern the conduct of deployment of overall OFW Filipino mariners and all its pertinent industry, it still intricacies or the local maritime industry as appeared as a whole. though Filipino There were several instances in the past seafarers were when a number of legislators expressed just playing clear intentions to author the bill in their second fi ddle respective chambers but those moves fell to land-based short as they got preoccupied with other workers being pressing legislations. deployed This legal shortcoming was in fact one abroad. of the reasons why when the partylist With the nomination and representation was recent passage formally introduced to the Filipino electorate into law of the in the 1998 national election, several Republic Act stakeholders in the local maritime industry No. 10022, decided to throw their hats into the partylist offi cially known race. Nearly every contender had the noble as “An Act intention of fi nally representing the Filipino Amending RA seafarers in Congress. Unfortunately, all 8042, Otherwise those attempts fell short even up to the Known as the recent 2010 national elections. Migrant Workers The most headway that the Magna and Overseas Carta of Filipino Seafarers gained in the Filipinos Act legislature was during the fi rst regular of 1995, as session of the Senate during the 14th Amended, Congress when Senator Edgardo J. Further Angara introduced and fi led Senate Bill Improving the 214 entitled: “An Act Instituting the Magna Standard of Carta of Filipino Seafarers.” Protection and It was clear from the bill’s explanatory Promotion of note and the ensuing 17 chapters that the the Welfare Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers is meant of Migrant to recognize the local seafaring industry Workers, Their as an industry by itself and should in fact, Families, be treated separately from the land-based Overseas manpower deployment sector. Filipinos in Filipino seafarers deployed onboard Distress, and foreign ocean-going vessels are For Other considered part of the overseas Filipino Purposes” that workers (OFW) lot or the general migrant included critical workers sector. However when the bill amendments governing the deployment of OFWs was that many in the enacted into law (Republic Act 8042 or the local maritime Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos industry Act of 1995), it hardly contained a specifi c considered as provision, much less a phrase, on or about detrimental or Filipino seafarers. may even led While some stakeholders in the local to the untimely maritime industry, including the UFS, were TURN TO actually part of the deliberation process PAGE 40 4 TINIG NG MARINO SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 Danger Lurks at the Manila North Harbor Entrance Channel he next maritime disaster in the certainly not proportional to the amount of country may actually happen right siltation that the ‘human settlement’ causes Tat the Port of Manila if government on specifi c parts of the water at the entrance authorities do not take immediate measure channel to the Manila North Harbor, making to address a lurking danger right at the the buoy markings extremely important. busy entrance channel of the Manila North Manila North Harbor is the country’s Harbor, the country’s largest domestic largest domestic port and on average, at port. least 15 to 20 vessels enter or exit the Apparently, two of the three buoy harbour on a daily basis. markings at the entrance channel of the Without the buoys, skippers of domestic Manila North Harbor are no longer visible vessels just rely on their familiarity with because they have either been stolen by the entrance channel to safely navigate ‘enterprising elements’ within the vicinity of in and out of the Manila North Harbor. But the harbor or have drifted somewhere else the fact still remains that danger is up on because their age-old connecting lines the horizon every time a ship maneuvers may have already snapped. through the buoy-less entrance channel. According to the personnel of the The United Filipino Seafarers (UFS) has Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), fl oating called the attention of the PPA on the issue marker buoys should be present at the and even copy furnished the Philippine position of 14 degrees 37’ 25” N, 120 Coast Guard (PCG) of the correspondence degrees 56’ 5” E; and the position of 14 early this year. PCG was given a copy degrees 36’ 12.5” N, 120 degrees 55’ 10” of the letter because the issue involves E. maritime safety. The only available fl oating buoy marker In the fi rst letter of the UFS addressed is located at the position of 14 degrees 36’ to then PPA General Manager Atty. Oscar 5” N, 120 degrees 55’ 0” E. Sevilla Jr., the union raised its concern Buoys are important aids to navigation to the PPA over the absence of buoys in especially in hazardous maritime channels the entrance channel of the Manila North because they provide appropriate marks in Harbor and asked the port agency to do the portion of the sea where ships should something about it. not pass or avoid because it is either The Philippine Coast Guard, through shallow, or there is an obstruction beneath Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the surface of the water. subsequently seconded the UFS letter by Given that a good number of people sending the PPA a follow-up letter asking have turned the Manila North Harbor for funding for the buoys as those aids to breakwater into a squatter colony, it was navigation are covered by the PPA and rather expected that the areas surrounding can easily be funded from its operational the place would become shallow because budget. The PCG just offered to maintain of refuse. and secure them once reinstalled. While dredging may be a regular The requests of the UFS and the undertaking at the port by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), its frequency is TURN TO PAGE 43 With the assistance of personnel and watercraft from the Philippine Coast Guard, the United Fili- pino Seafarers (UFS) was able to conduct an actual ocular inspection of the exact location where the buoy markers should be at the entrance channel of the Manila North Harbor. SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 TINIG NG MARINO 5 6 TINIG NG MARINO SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2010 Tinig ng Marino (Voice of the Seafarer) is published by the United Filipino Seafarers, a duly registered Philippine maritime union. Editorial offi ce: 4th/F Room 402, Gedisco Terraces Bldg., 1148 Roxas Blvd., Ermita, Manila, Philippines; Tele- phone nos.: (632) 524-4888; 525-5806; Fax (632) 524-2336; E-mail: ufs_07@ yahoo.com; Website: http://www.ufs.ph. Materials published in this paper may be reprinted provided proper acknowledgment to Tinig ng Marino and the author, if indicated, is made. Nelson P. Ramirez Executive Editor Rey Gambe Arianne Rodriguez Managing Editor Sonia Inserto Creative Consultant Assistant Editors Erik España Minabelle Siason Roland Cabrera Belgium Bureau Artists Capt. Arturo Cañoza Fr. James Kolin Japan Bureau New York Bureau Sapalo Velez Bundang Engr. Samson Tormis & Bulilan Law Offi ces Greece Bureau Legal Consultants Corry Llamas-Konings Danilo B. Abayata Jr. Philip Ramirez Freddierick P. Castante Bob Ramirez Ahrvie Valdez Rotterdam Bureau Production Staff SOUNDING LEAD EEDITORIALDITORIAL CAPT. REYNOLD ‘BURT’ M. SABAY 2010 Manila Amendments: Seafarer Law is a Must he time has come for a true law for Filipino Seafarers to be en- Are We Prepared? Tacted very soon. Since practically time immemorial, it has been the long-sought dream for many stakeholders in the local seafaring of competency issued to a seafarer, and ECE are good for ratings posi- tions the way we do with BSMT and industry and many grizzled mariners to have a Magna Carta of Fili- he historic Diplomatic Confer- stating that the relevant require- ence of the International Mari- ments of training, competencies or BSMarE graduates that most of pino Seafarers. time Organization (IMO) held seagoing service in the Convention them are good only for ratings posi- The enthusiasm and excitement reached crescendo during the T in Manila from 21 to 25 June 2010 have been met.” tions. fi rst session of the 14th Congress when Senator Edgardo J. An- defi nitely put the Philippines on the According to our soundings This will bring us back to the is- gara introduced Senate Bill No.