POEA resolution grants additional pay to Pinoy seafarers sailing in Gulf of Guinea

POEA resolution grants additional pay to Pinoy seafarers sailing in Gulf of Guinea
Samuel Medenilla November 30, 2020 https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/11/30/poea-reso-grants-additional-pay...

Filipino seafarers sailing onboard ships passing at additional locations in the Gulf of Guinea will also soon be entitled with additional benefits, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

In its Governing Board Resolution No. 15, series of 2020, POEA adopted the International Bargaining Forum’s (IBF) new list of Warlike and High Risk designations, which introduced a new Extended Risk Zone in the Gulf of Guinea.

“POEA is parroting these modifications to inform the seafarers and the affected deploying agencies so that salaries and risk benefits of the seafarers will be accordingly adjusted,” POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia told BusinessMirror in a SMS.

The new area is located in the Gulf of Guinea, which runs in a direct line from the Liberia/Ivory Coast border to the Congo/Angola border.

POEA said sailors, who will be passing the area, will get a bonus equal to their basic pay, which will be payable only on the day their vessel is attacked.

They will also get double compensation for death and disability if it occurred on the day the vessel is attacked.

“The provisions herein provided shall apply to all Filipino seafarers effective 1, Nov. 2020,” POEA said.

The IBF list of Warlike and High Risk locations also included all ports in Yemen; Gulf of Aden plus 12 nautical miles off Somali East Coast, excluding the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor (IRTC); West Indian Ocean and Red Sea, up to the Yemen/Saudi Arabia border; and the Gulf Guinea: territorial waters (12 nautical miles), ports and inland waterways of Nigeria and Benin, excluding the Maritime Exclusion Zone (MEZ), the Secure Anchorage Area (SAA) and Ship-to-Ship Zone (STS).

Last Oct., the International Maritime Bureau reported there was a 40 percent increase in kidnappings cases perpetrated by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea during the first 9 months of the year.