By Marita Moaje
MANILA – The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Friday said all reported abandoned Filipino seafarers have been rescued and repatriated to the Philippines.
In a press briefing on Friday, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac assured that the DMW is at the forefront of protecting the welfare and well-being of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), including abandoned Filipino seafarers, as included in the amended Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) adopted by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) International Labour Conference (ILC).
“So we are not strangers to pushing for protecting seafarers caught in abandonment situations,” Cacdac said.
He said that under the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in 2024, the DMW and the Maritime Industry Authority provided for stronger and detailed provisions on the abandonment of seafarers in its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
“We are well-entrenched in terms of protecting our OFWs in abandonment situations. So we are monitoring situations of abandonment,” Cacdac said.
DMW data showed a total of 373 cases of abandoned Filipino seafarers deployed in various vessels in different parts of the world from January to December 2024.
The latest to be repatriated were three Filipino crew members of the Team Porter, a salvaged, rescued vessel that sailed under a German flag.
Cacdac said abandonment of seafarers need not be physical abandonment.
“It could include a case where the seafarer or a shipowner has unilaterally severed ties with the seafarer, including the failure to take contractual amendments for a period of at least two months,” he said.
Cacdac said failure to pay the contractual wages of a seafarer for a period of at least two months by the shipowner would already constitute abandonment.
The DMW reported that from 2018 to 2024, the department logged a total of 1,035 cases of abandoned Filipino seafarers deployed in various vessels including fishing vessels, passenger ships, yachts, and bulk carriers, among others.
Recent reports on abandoned seafarers from the DMW’s Migrant Workers Offices include those involving Panamanian bulk carriers MV Atheras and Buenaventura, which have reportedly already paid its crews for January 2025; passenger ship MV Gemini, with all crew reported to have been repatriated as of Feb. 20, 2025; bulk carrier MV Manticor, of which all crew members have been repatriated safely and their salaries paid in full; and Team Porter.
“So the overall issue for us, protecting seafarers who are being entitled to benefits and on the part of the DMW, we do not hesitate to penalize licensed manning agencies and shipowners who are involved in abandonment situations,” Cacdac said. (PNA)
