By Mayen Jaymalin Updated November 23, 2008 12:00 AM [ philstar.com ]
Filipino sailors are sending home an average of $760 each a month, according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
TUCP, the country’s largest labor group, said the remittances coming from the more than 350,000 Filipino seamen will continue to increase.
Citing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas statistics, TUCP secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera said Filipino sailors sent home a record $2.393 billion in the first nine months of the year.
The figure, he said, was 43.35 percent more than the $1.669 billion that they remitted over the same period last year.
This despite the imminent threats of an economic crisis and the rampant hijacking of vessels with Filipino seamen as crew.
Remittances by land-based Filipino workers abroad, on the other hand, grew by only 12.17 percent to $9.879 billion in the first nine months.
Filipino sailors sent home $1.669 billion in 2005; $1.949 billion in 2006; and $2.236 billion in 2007.
Herrera said Filipino sailors are able to send home large amounts because they receive higher pay and do not have to spend for rent, food and utilities.
“Unlike land-based Filipino workers abroad, sailors live where they work. Employers take care of their food and even their personal communication needs. Thus, they spend only when they get to port, mostly for recreation,” Herrera explained.
Herrera said he does not see the nearing global recession dampening in a major way the hiring of Filipino sailors.
“Fortunately for us, the global balance of economic power has clearly shifted from the West to the East, largely on account of the robust economies of and brisk trading around China, India and Russia,” he said.
“A huge beneficiary of this shift is Japan, which has one of the world’s largest merchant marine fleet and is strategically located in the region. Japan now employs more than 50,000 Filipino sailors. In fact, seven out of every 10 sailors on board Japan’s merchant ships are Filipinos,” Herrera said.
Only last week, two large Japanese shipping operators said they intend to engage another 7,000 Filipino sailors to drive new vessels under their fleet expansion plans.
