Marcos Jr certifies Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers as urgent | ABS-CBN

ADVERTISEMENT

dpo-dps-seal
Welcome, Kapamilya! We use cookies to improve your browsing experience. Continuing to use this site means you agree to our use of cookies. Tell me more!

Marcos Jr certifies Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers as urgent

Marcos Jr certifies Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers as urgent

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Clipboard

Job applicants take shelter from the rain as they line up outside the Luneta Seafarer’s Center in Manila on October 6, 2022. The Philippine Statistics Authority said around 2.68 million Filipinos were jobless in August as the unemployment rate climbed to 5.3 percent from 5.2 percent in July. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
Job applicants take shelter from the rain as they line up outside the Luneta Seafarer’s Center in Manila on October 6, 2022. The Philippine Statistics Authority said around 2.68 million Filipinos were jobless in August as the unemployment rate climbed to 5.3 percent from 5.2 percent in July. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has certified as urgent a measure crafting a magna carta for Filipino seafarers meant to keep them safe and employed abroad, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Marcos told Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in a letter dated Sept. 25 that Senate Bill No. 2221 titled "Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Filipinos Seafarers" needs to be enacted immediately.

The bill, which affirms seafarers' rights and lays down the responsibilities of recruitment and shipping companies, is pending second reading at the Senate.

A bill that has been certified urgent is exempted from the constitutional requirement for proposed legislation to be read three times and on separate days.

ADVERTISEMENT

That means they can be voted on and passed on second and on third reading on the same day.

Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the measure seeks to address "recurring deficiencies in the domestic laws" on the training and accreditation of Pinoy seafarers, which puts their employment, especially in Europe, at risk.

"The President also said that the bill guarantees to the international community that the Philippines will comply with its obligations of ensuring that Filipino seafarers’ training, facilities, and equipment are at par with the international standards and those set by relevant international conventions," Garafil added.

The Magna Carta for Seafarers is also among the 20 priority pieces of legislation that should be passed by December this year.

The European Union (EU) earlier warned that it would stop honoring seafarer certifications from the Philippines as the country has yet to comply with more modern training systems and requirements for seaborne workers.

In March, the EU said it would continue to recognize the certification of seafarers in the Philippines after seeing that the Philippines has made "serious" developments to comply with maritime labor requirements.

Then Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, who passed away in August, earlier said that President Marcos Jr.’s dialogue with the European Commission in Brussels in 2022 was instrumental in convincing the panel not to decertify around 50,000 seafarers from the Philippines.

As of 2022, there are some 490,000 Filipino seafarers in different parts of the world, Ople earlier said, citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Watch more News on iWantTFC

ADVERTISEMENT

US pushes Zelensky to sign Ukraine resources deal

US pushes Zelensky to sign Ukraine resources deal

Agence France-Presse

 | 

Updated Feb 22, 2025 03:03 AM PHT

Clipboard

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faced pressure on Friday to sign a deal to hand the United States preferential access to Ukraine's mineral deposits following harsh criticism from US President Donald Trump.

Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden.

But Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States in exchange for signing away precious rights to vast amounts of its natural resources and critical minerals.

Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser on Friday predicted that Zelensky would sign the deal soon.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Look, here's the bottom line, President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term, and that is good for Ukraine," Waltz told a conference on the outskirts of Washington.

Trump's top advisers have doubled down on their attacks on Zelensky in recent days, after Trump branded him a "dictator" and falsely claimed Ukraine had "started" the war with Russia.

The war of words has stunned Kyiv and European capitals, a sign of just how rapidly Trump is overhauling Washington's long-standing support for Ukraine as he opens talks with Moscow on a settlement to the conflict.

Trump told a gathering of US governors at the White House he had "very good talks" with his Russian counterpart, while adding Ukrainian leaders "don't have any cards, but they play it tough".

The United States had been Ukraine's most important financial, military and political backer since Russia invaded in February 2022, in what the West's top powers had condemned as an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression.

A senior Ukrainian official earlier Friday told AFP that despite the tensions between Zelensky and Trump, talks on a possible agreement were "ongoing".

"There is a constant exchange of drafts, we sent another one yesterday," the Kyiv source said, adding that Ukraine was now waiting for a US response.

Kyiv had rejected a first attempt by Trump's team to strike a deal for Ukraine's natural resources, saying the proposal did not include security guarantees for Kyiv -- a move that infuriated Trump.


- Three-year war -


Ukraine is pressing for NATO membership or for the deployment of Western troops and masses of advanced equipment as part of any wider ceasefire agreement with Russia.

Zelensky said earlier this week he would not "sell" Ukraine in any deal with the United States.

The spat risks undermining Western support for Kyiv at a critical juncture in the conflict, ahead of the three-year anniversary of Russia's invasion on Sunday.

Russia's army on Friday said it had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine.

Europe has also been left scrambling to respond, though Zelensky has held a flurry of calls in recent days with European leaders reiterating their support for Ukraine, including French President Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Finland and Denmark.

Macron will travel to Washington next week where he will tell Trump: "You can't be weak with President Putin," he said in an address on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also visit Trump, as Paris and London seek to marshal Europe's response to the Republican's first month in office.


- 'Despised' -


Zelensky met this week in Kyiv with Trump's envoy Keith Kellogg whose description of meetings with Ukrainian officials came in stark contrast with rhetoric from his counterparts in Washington.

In a social media post Kellogg called Zelensky "the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war".

But in Washington there was little sign Trump's team was looking to dial down tensions.

Trump told Fox News on Friday that "I don't think he's very important to be in meetings", referring to Zelensky, adding "he makes it very hard to make deals".

Tech tycoon and Trump backer Elon Musk weighed in on Thursday, saying Ukrainians "despised" their president and that the US leader was right to leave him out of talks with Russia.

"Some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable," Waltz said during a briefing at the White House.

In his most pointed criticism yet, Zelensky earlier this week said Trump had succumbed to Russian "disinformation" over the US president's repetition of debunked Kremlin talking points on the conflict.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

It looks like you’re using an ad blocker

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.