MORE PROVISIONS. Marino party-list Rep. Sandro Gonzalez assures in an interview Monday evening (April 25, 2022) in Davao City that his group will push for additional provisions on the Magna Carta for Seafarers bill once given another term in the House of Representatives. In particular, the group seeks to include the right against discrimination among seafarers and repatriation to any destination. (PNA photo by Robinson Niñal, Jr.)
DAVAO CITY – The Marino party-list group said it will introduce two more crucial provisions to the Magna Carta for Seafarers bill should they be given another term in the House of Representatives in the coming elections.
In an interview Monday evening here, Marino party-list Rep. Sandro Gonzalez noted the Magna Carta for Seafarers bill has been pending for two decades in Congress and has been languishing for two years in the Senate following the pandemic.
Gonzales said they will push for two additional provisions in the bill: the right against discrimination among seafarers and repatriation to any destination.
“Right against discrimination is our main priority because most of the seafarers who are still able to work were forbidden due to their age and gender,” the lawmaker said.
Women seafarers, on the other hand, routinely experience discrimination in their applications because of their gender.
“They are not accepted based on their strength, that they get pregnant and other such excuses. Unfortunately, there is this stereotyping, and we need to address that,” Gonzalez said.
As to the repatriation to any destination, he recounted that during the lockdown, the seafarers were not brought to their respective provinces but to other places where they experienced isolation.
Gonzales also acknowledged that the seafarers' bill -- along with the others that were not signed by the President -- would be “reset” as soon as the new administration starts in July.
Nevertheless, the Marino party-list will keep pushing for the passage of the bill until it becomes a law. (PNA)
