The recent trage­dy of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in Italy brought atten­tion to Filipino sea­farers whose ‘hero­ism’ was hailed by the Philippines’ for­eign minister. President PNoy promptly called them ‘sailing am­bassadors’ reminis­cent of President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo’s ‘modern day heroes’ tag for overseas workers (OFWS). Passengers praised the Filipino crew’s brave acts manifesting compe­tence, professional­ism and humanity, even under extreme pressure. According to me­dia reports when the calamity struck in the middle of the night, the Filipinos were disci­plined and calm. Most important of all, they thought of the welfare of the most defense­less people caught in the disaster—the passengers, especial­ly children.

Fortunately for the Filipino crew, all 296 (out of a total crew of 1,024) of them survived with only three injured and are now back in the Philippines. This is not the first time that Filipino sea­farers did heroic acts in the face of tragedy. We recall the infamous murder in the high seas in March 1996 when some Fili­pino crew members of the Taiwanese-regis­tered cargo ship Maersk Dubai, tried to save Romanian stowaways from being thrown out to sea. Their valiant efforts resulted in the captain of the Maersk Dubai arrested in Hali­fax, N.S. and extradited to Taiwan to face trial for murder.

Unfortunately, the seafarers who blew the whistle did not get sup­port from the Philippine government in their fight to stay in Canada to escape the threats to their lives if they return to the country.
Filipino seafarers have long dominated the sea-lanes of the world – some 300,000 of them are manning ships of all kind at any one time.

According to statis­tics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) sea-based workers rose from 261,614 in 2008 to 347,150 in 2010. The majority – 66, 523 worked for Panama-registered ships while 11,927 are employed by Italian flags of regis­try like the Costa Con­cordia. While they earn more money, life at sea is not the best way to make a living – suffering long absences from families like the caregivers who work in Canada and elsewhere.

They are part of a vast army of over­seas workers who toil in foreign lands and whose dollar remittances is the life-blood of the country. Indeed, because of the topography of the country with it’s over 7,000 islands, Filipinos will always be Magdaragats. We can only hope that in tragedies at sea or in land, their own government will not leave them adrift.
-Ted Alcuitas tedalcuitas@ shaw.ca

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