Seafarer’s bill awaits Noy signature

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is expected to sign into law the landmark Filipino Seafarers Protection Bill soon.

The enactment of the bill is urgent, considering the numerous alarming stories about the deleterious practice of some lawyers and other individuals who charge seafarers unconscionable legal fees ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent of their claims, according to Angkla Rep. Jesulito Manalo, principal author and lone representative of the maritime sector in Congress.

“Seafarers working on board international fleets are known to be awarded hefty compensation and benefit packages by reason of the risk in their lives while working in the high seas,” he said. 

“This situation then makes a seafarer an easy target for ambulance chasing, with legal practitioners having considerable interest in the monetary benefits that one may claim and eventually be awarded.

“Sadly, ambulance chasers go to great lengths to push seafarers to file labor cases against their foreign employers, claiming for benefits even beyond the claims they are actually entitled to. This then leads foreign ship owners to no longer re-employ Filipino seafarers, likewise threatening the decline if not loss of the annual billion-dollar remittances they bring into the country.”  

The bill aims to protect Filipino seafarers’ labor claims arising from illnesses, accidents or in worst cases, even death, “against unconscionable legal fees imposed and collected by unscrupulous individuals,” Manalo said.

It would make it unlawful for individuals to engage in ambulance chasing who, through questionable schemes, take undue advantage of seafarers in their legal pursuit for injuries and sickness benefits, he added.