Job applicants take shelter from the rain as they line up outside the Luneta Seafarer’s Center in Manila on October 6, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will prioritize the government's compliance with the European Union's standards and work on it in 3 months or the timeframe to iron issues House Speaker Martin Romualdez said Wednesday.
Speaking to Palace reporters in Brussels at the sidelines of the ASEAN-EU Summit, Romualdez said it was urgent to resolve the matter so the country would not lose its credentials under the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
"The President made it very clear, how important the welfare and the plight of our seafarers is to, not just the... to the country as a whole, and that is a physical, actually, attendance to this engagement this morning manifested that it’s a top priority, that this is a very, very high priority," Romualdez said.
"In the near term, within the next three months [unclear] we can demonstrate that the policies are being followed, that they are consistent and the documentary evidence... compliance then I think these grievances can be lifted the, you know, other issues surrounding, you know, the seafarers conditionality can also be addressed," he added.
About 50,000 Filipino seafarers working in European vessels are at risk of losing their jobs due to the Philippines' repeated failure to hurdle the EMSA evaluation in the last 16 years.
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For years, the Philippines has provided EU member-states with thousands of personnel to man their vessels.
Marcos then ordered the creation of an advisory board with government agencies, international ship owners, and other stakeholders to address the concerns on the deployment of Filipino seafarers.