The Senate on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers with 14 affirmative votes, no abstention and no negative vote, in time for the celebration of the National Maritime Week.
The measure aims to uphold the welfare of Filipino seafarers by mandating decent working and living conditions, standardizing terms and conditions of employment, regulating manning agencies, and incentivizing maritime stakeholders, among others.
“I would like to thank my colleagues for their support for this measure, especially Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri who has been supportive of this bill from day one,” said Sen. Rafael “Raffy” Tulfo, principal sponsor and one of the authors of Senate Bill 2221.
“I am equally thankful to the seafarers and their union, including the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines. This bill is an early Christmas gift to all seafarers,” he added.Besides Tulfo, the other 14 senators who filed their versions of the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers during the 19th Congress were Zubiri; Majority Floor Leader Senator Emmanuel Joel Villanueva; Senate President Pro Tempore Lorna Regina “Loren” Legarda; and Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Robinhood “Robin” Padilla, Cynthia Villar, Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Mary Grace Poe, Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Christopher “Bong” Go, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and Mark Villar.
