POEA assures seafarers’ welfare, benefits during pandemic

POEA assures seafarers’ welfare, benefits during pandemic
Leslie Ann Aquino September 21, 2020 https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/21/poea-assures-seafarers-welfare-benefits-dur...

To further assure their protection and benefits during the national state emergency brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has issued the interim guidelines on the deployment and repatriation of Filipino seafarers.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on Monday said that based on Governing Board Resolution No. 13-2020, the POEA emphasized the provision of assistance and benefits to seafarers under unfortunate

situations in their deployment or repatriation due to COVID-19 related reasons.

“A seafarer who already signed an employment contract but cannot be deployed from the point of hire due to COVID-19 related reasons shall be provided with accommodation and food at the principal or employer’s cost, unless provided by the government, until the seafarer is deployed or returned home, and even until the contract cancellation,” read the resolution.

The POEA said a seafarer who was deployed but becomes stranded during his transit shall be paid basic pay, accommodation, food, and medical benefits at principal or employer’s cost until the seafarer joins the vessel.

Likewise, the agency said, the principal or employer shall provide the same assistance and benefits to the seafarers who already signed a contract and deployed but unable to join the ship and is repatriated back home, as well as to the seafarers who cannot be repatriated for some COVID-19 related reasons.

It added that seafarers who completed his period of contractual service onboard, and who is ashore but cannot be repatriated shall still be provided with “basic pay, accommodation, food, and medical benefits.”
The POEA said the principal or employers of the seafarer shall also provide all the cost on the accommodation and food of the seafarer during his quarantine period, unless otherwise provided by the government.

It said the principal or employers will be allowed to recover any associated cost on the said provision of assistance and benefits in accordance with the employment contract or the Collective Bargaining Agreement.