Bills for OFW department, Magna Carta for Seafarers filed at House


A neophyte party-list lawmaker has filed three House measures aimed at uplifting the conditions of Filipino seafarers.
Marino party-list Representative Carlo "Sandro" Gonzalez on Wednesday filed House Bill 2317, or the proposed Department of Overseas Filipinos Act of 2019, and House Bill 2318, or the Magna Carta for Seafarers Act of 2019.
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“With these two measures, we seek to redeem the promise the Marino Party-list made to Filipino seafarers, that we will work to improve their working conditions and increase the standard of living of their families,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
According to Gonzalez, the Magna Carta for Seafarers outlines the rights of seafarers as well as the measures to be implemented by concerned government agencies to protect them.
Meanwhile, the Department of Overseas Filipinos includes a provision seeking to create a unit intended for the concerns of seafarers, considering their situation that they spend much of their time at sea and in other countries in their port calls.
The measures serves as a counterpart for a similar Senate bill filed by Senator Bong Go.
Apart from the two bills, Gonzalez also filed House Resolution 71 which calls on agencies covered by Executive Order 84 creating an inter-agency council on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) member-state audit scheme to submit reports to the House of Representative every quarter on the status of their compliance with IMO instruments.
“Our seafarers face loneliness at sea, but perhaps their worries can be eased by the knowledge that the whole of the Philippine government stands ready to assist them whenever they need help,” Gonzalez said.
“We will actively participate in the passage of these bills into law, along with all other bills which would be of great benefit to Filipino seafarers and their families,” he added. —Erwin Colcol/KBK, GMA News

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