The ‘Magna Carta’ came into force to protect 600,000 Filipino sailors

President Marcos signed the measure aimed at strengthening the protection of workers’ rights on board ships around the world. The Philippines is the country with the largest number of workers in this sector. The measure was urgent due to the multiplication of attacks against commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

Manila () – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed today the law known as the Magna Carta of Philippine Seafarers, with which the country has equipped itself with a more effective and updated instrument for the protection of a substantial part of its labour migration. The objective is not only the protection of maritime workers in the archipelago and abroad, but also the promotion of maritime activities as a tool for achieving full employment.

In the message read shortly after the signing to members of his government and representatives of the parties involved in defining the document, Marcos said that it is “our way of telling our seafarers that we see them, we hear them and we support them.” The Philippine head of state also said that the measure is “very timely” and thanked the parliamentarians for having “strengthened the rights of seafarers, understood their challenges and supported their dreams.”

One of the possibilities opened up by the Magna Carta is to ensure the coordination of several ministries and agencies: the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Maritime Industry Authority, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Migrant Workers. Thus, many will contribute to the professional and numerical development of a labor sector that employs 600,000 people, of which 400,000 are abroad, embarked on almost all the seas of the planet. Data that places it as the numerically most significant international presence in the sector, followed by Russia, Indonesia, China and India.

In light of numerous negative episodes of exploitation, abuse or lack of recognition of what has been agreed mainly through Philippine government agencies and local and foreign employment agencies, the new law aims to create a network that will strengthen workers’ rights and working conditions while improving their skills, training and careers. Taking into account certain recent and ongoing developments, notably the risk of attacks on commercial shipping in the Western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, the aim is to ensure the safety of these people in coordination with all national or international actors involved.

Parliament Speaker Martin Romualdez said that this is a significant step that will allow Filipino seafarers to “continue to support their families in their places of origin.” “With this measure,” he added, “we hope to confirm ourselves as the largest provider of maritime workers in the world” and thus continue to guarantee an indispensable contribution to remittances from abroad, essential for the economy of the archipelago.