DOLE: One-stop shop for seafarers up soon

The Department of Labor and Employment will set up a one-stop shop for Filipino seafarers by August this year.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas gave this assurance to Vice President Teofisto Guingona, who has taken it upon himself to look after the welfare of 514,580 registered Filipino seafarers.

Of the number, 198,324 are deployed in foreign vessels, while the rest are unemployed or awaiting the processing of their employment papers.

Filipino seafarers remit about $2 billion yearly, accounting for 30 percent of the total remittances of overseas Filipino workers, Guingona said.

The center will facilitate the processing of documents needed by the Filipino seafarers, who had complained to Guingona about "expensive, time-consuming, overlapping procedures" and red tape in the processing of their papers, certificates and documents in various government offices.

Fr. Savino Bernardi, director and chaplain of the Apostleship of the Sea in Manila, said it is ironic that the Philippines does not have a seafarers’ center considering that Filipinos make up almost 25 percent of the world seafarer’s population.

Almost all major ports in the world have their own seafarers’ center, Bernardi said.

Guingona said the setting up of such a center is mandated by Administrative Order No. 56 issued by President Arroyo and a resolution passed during the Philippine Seafarers’ Convention last September. – Sammy Santos