By Betheena Unite Manning agencies in the country cried foul over an order issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) mandating them to shoulder the board and lodging of returning overseas Filipino workers while undergoing mandatory quarantine, saying this could lead to bankruptcy. In a letter sent to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, the Joint Manning Group and Filipino Association of Mariners Employment Inc., composed of major manning enterprises, along with maritime unions United Filipino Seafarers (UFS) and Associated Marine Officers and Seafarers' Union of the Philippines, opposed the measure as “it will translate to an estimated US$700 incremental cost per repatriated seafarer to their ranks, incurring the loss of respect of foreign shipowners to the Philippines.” DOLE’s Department Order (DO) 211-A states that “the Philippine Manning Agency or the ship owners they represent shall cover the board and lodging of their deployed seafarers during their quarantine period in accordance with Standard A4.2.1, paragraph 1 (a), of the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006.” The local manning agencies (LMA) said that the Philippine Government, and not any private groups or sectors, should shoulder these costs, similar to what other countries are doing during the pandemic. UFS President Nelson Ramirez argued that “it is irresponsible to expect the private sector to pay for these expenses, given that the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) has a P7-billion trust fund, gathered from mandatory fees paid by all seafarers.” “It is clear in the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, as Amended, that seafarers are clearly regarded as OFWs. How can they defy such law and mistreat them despite the billions of dollars they have remitting into the government coffers?” Ramirez said. They also sought the intervention of President Duterte in salvaging the “shaky state of manning industry business from a clear upheaval” as they have already shelled out an estimated P2.8 billion for accommodation and quarantine expenses during the two-month enhanced community quarantine. Additional burden such as the implementation of the order, the group claimed, will lead them to bankruptcy. “To help the Filipino seafarers stay afloat, we appeal for your reconsideration and stop the implementation of DO 211-A. Furthermore, we reiterate our request for DOLE to allocate P6.52 billion, and ask for supplemental budget from Congress, to cover the P2.8-billion reimbursement to the LMA’s and the estimated P3.72-billion quarantine costs of repatriation of seafarers for the next three months,” the letter dated June 6 stated. If the implementation of DO 211-A pushes through, foreign principals might be compelled to look for replacements for Filipino seafarers in other source countries such as Eastern Europe, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, India, and China, where repatriation quarantine costs are charged to their government, the group argued. They also noted that the order contradicts Section 19 of the POEA Standard Employment Contract, stating that “seafarer’s contract terminates upon the seafarer’s arrival at the point of hire (i.e. Philippine international seaport or airport) and not arrival at their place of domicile, and shipowners contractual obligation to pay for quarantine-related expenses is without any contractual basis.” The consensus appeal stressed that DOLE has misapplied the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) and misinterpreted the International Labor Convention, as the Standard A4.2/1 9 (a) of the MLC states that “Shipowners liability only speaks of the obligation to cover cost for sickness and/or injury of seafarers occurring between date of commencing duty and the date upon which they are deemed duly repatriated,” and “it does not cover quarantine costs of asymptomatic seafarers after repatriation, or after the seafarer arrives at our international airport.” “CF Sharp is standing against this directive along with the entire Philippine manning community. And at the heart of this matter, the Philippines cannot afford to play games with the ship owners by imposing additional costs outside the terms of employment. With the current state of global affairs, other nationalities are aggressively competing for these jobs, offering less expensive labor and easy to deal with the government,” CF Sharp President Miguel Angel Rocha. Cargo Safeway Inc. President, Capt. Rey Casareo, for his part, has called on the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) to release the money contributed by the seafarers to pay for hotels, rapid test kits, and transportation to reach their homes and not for future benefits only.