Filipino seafarers choose jobs over life

Most Filipino seafarers prefer to risk their lives sailing in the dangerous Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for hefty salaries, according to the president of an organization of manning agencies in the country.

Commercial vessels passing through the two shipping lanes are vulnerable to armed drone or missile attack from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks are in solidarity with Palestinian militants fighting Israeli troops in Gaza.

“It’s an IBF (International Bargaining Forum) directive that once a seafarer agrees to waive his safety and transit to a high-risk and war-like zone, then he will receive hazard pay. It’s a fact that our seafarers choose to sustain their livelihood because that’s already their way of life,” said Cristina Garcia, president of the Association of Licensed Manning Agencies (ALMA).

ALMA has 80 members with a combined hires of over 170,000 Filipinos.

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac on Monday said that to date, only 78 out of the thousands of Filipino seafarers refused to sail in the dangerous areas where ships had been attacked by Houthi rebels because of high salaries and doubled hazard pays.

“They choose to take the risk just to ensure that they will provide food for their families. But if a total ban was imposed for seafarers that traverse war zones, that worries them, based on the report of our members,” Garcia, who was interviewed by the DAILY TRIBUNE over the digital show Usapang OFW on Tuesday, disclosed.

Garcia revealed that the DMW is considering banning all Filipino seafarers transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but which their group is opposing.

“The problem is that if Filipino seafarers are banned, local agencies cannot abruptly fill in the posts that were vacated by Filipinos. That means foreign shipowners will resort to choosing other races over Filipinos. That’s our dilemma,” she said.

With this, Garcia has asked the Philippine government to consider some options instead of a total ban.

“What we want to suggest is government-to-government talks between the flag state carriers and the Philippine government. It is more viable to ban vessels traversing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and find another route in Africa, rather than banning the Filipino seafarers. Although, there are added costs for the part of the shipowners. Traversing the African route would take an additional 22 days for a shipment to reach a destination,” according to Garcia.

Garcia cited as example the Dutch government’s order that all Dutch-flag merchant vessels be barred from traversing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden where missile attacks on merchant ships by Houthis are rampant.

During the arrival of 21 Filipino seafarers in the country last month after their vessel M/V Tutor was attacked by Houthi rebels, the ship’s captain Christian Domarique vowed that he would just rest to let the trauma pass, but would go back to his maritime career.

Houthi rebels in the Red Sea attacked the Greek-owned and Liberia-flagged Tutor, which has 22 crew members.

One of the crew remained missing until now as the ill-fated Tutor sank days after the attack.