Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is pushing for the amendment to a 15-year old maritime convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to give seafarers more protection while on high seas.

In a virtual gathering of global maritime and seafaring industry leaders and advocates last week, Bello said the existing ILO statute is "ambiguous" in providing fair treatment and protection to seafarers.

" only encourages the member-states to cooperate to facilitate the investigation of serious marine casualties. We need to act to correct such ambiguities in the code. We strongly recommend the amendment of the Maritime Labour Convention to recognize seafarers as key workers," Bello said.

Bello emphasized the need to create “strategic and appropriate measures to continuously protect our seafarers in dealing with fresh opportunities” in the new normal as the maritime labor industry was also among the hardest hit by the ongoing pandemic.

According to Bello, fair treatment of sea-based workers is one of the country's strongest advocacies with thousands of seafarers being deployed each year.

"We fully recognize our seafarers as essential workers who play a vital role in the economy which is why they are among the priority recipients in the government’s national Covid vaccination rollout," he added.

The labor chief also mentioned that a measure is also being pushed in Congress to exempt Filipino seafarers from movement or travel restrictions, particularly when securing important travel and work documents.

"To protect them from the perils of the seas, crews must change regularly. Seafarers in need of medical attention must also be allowed to disembark, for humanitarian consideration," he said.

The loss of or damage to seafarers’ effects by marine peril has also been covered when the government developed the Philippine Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers On-Board Ocean-Going Ships.

Meanwhile, Bello assured the convention of the country's commitment to supporting the international seafaring and shipping community through the supply of highly sought, globally competitive, skilled, and reliable seafarers.

"I am confident that, despite the challenges that we are facing, we can build strong partnerships and multi-stakeholder cooperation to bring about meaningful change in the life and career of our dear seafarers," he added.