Bayan Muna Chairman and former Congressman Neri Colmenares today urged Pres. Ferdinand Marcos and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to conduct more consultations with stakeholders, especially seafarers, on the IRR of the Magna Carta for Seafarers.
“The Magna Carta for Seafarers suffers from various procedural and substantive infirmities which resulted in the continued disagreements between the seafarers and the Marcos administration. The disagreements were so serious that the previous consultations have been tumultuous, and the Department of Migrant Workers represented by Usec. Jerome Pampolina failed to steer the consultations to a successful and amicable conclusion,” he said
“We call on the DMW to conduct more consultations with stakeholders, especially with seafarers who express their opposition to the law and the current IRR draft, even if they are supposed to be the alleged beneficiary. Refusal of the DMW to conduct effective consultations will only generate more animosity and challenges against the Magna Carta from the very beneficiaries themselves” said Bayan Muna former Congressman Neri Colmenares.
“The IRR included a provision requiring workers who won their cases for compensation against manning agencies and shipowners, to pay a bond before they can get their compensation. Ang mga seafarers na wala nang trabaho dahil sa injuries, ay pagbabayarin pa ng bond kahit sila ay panalo na? Hindi ba kayo naawa sa mahihirap na seafarers na pati ang napanalunan na nila sa kaso ay hindi pa nila matatamasa? This is not a magna carta for seafarers but a magna carta for the rich and powerful manning agencies and ship owners.” he added.
“We were informed that the opposition not only came from the seafarers, but also other stakeholders like maritime institutions and schools, as well as government agencies like DOLE. We ask DOLE, and other stakeholders, not to give in to pressures and maintain its opposition to the law and the IRR,” he said
“We ask DMW not to railroad the consultation and continue to pursue consultations as termination of the consultation will practically negate the supposed intention of the magna carta. Ang laban ng dehadong mamamayan ay nasa korte, kongreso at kalsada. We ask DMW not to force the stakeholders to pursue judicial challenges against the law, tumultuous congressional debates to amend the law and rallies against the law that was originally intended for the good of seafarers” ended Colmenares. ###
