DESPITE the “missing” status of the 36 Filipino seafarers of a ship that sank near Japan earlier this month, their relatives will be given the necessary government aid, labor officials said.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said it will be finalizing the forms of assistance it will extend to families of the missing seafarers of the Panama-flagged cargo ship, Gulf Livestock 1.
“We shall provide financial assistance, livelihood and scholarship assistance to dependents of the missing seafarers,” OWWA administrator Hans Cacdac told BusinessMirror in a phone interview.
He said Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III has ordered inclusion of the matter in the agenda of the OWWA Board of Trustees meeting this week.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), meanwhile, said the concerned manning agency will continue to give updates to the families of the missing seafarers.
“They will be given access to information on the efforts of the search and rescue because they are still hoping to find even if . . . just the remains of their loved ones,” POEA administrator Bernard Olalia told BusinessMirror in a SMS.
Both officials made the assurance amid concerns that it will take a long time before the families of the missing seafarers could get “monetary benefits from the insurance coverage” as well as benefits from OWWA.
Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani cited Article 391 of the Civil Code stating that relatives of “a missing seaman may file their claim for death compensation benefits within the three-year period fixed by law from the time the seaman has been presumed dead.”
Geslani said, DOLE and OWWA “should now discuss how these 36 families can receive assistance while waiting for the 3 years and even the manning agency can enter into an amicable settlement with the heirs so that the monetary claims including accrued salaries may be settled so as not to prolong the agony of the bereaved families.”
Of the 39 Filipino crew of Gulf Livestock 1, which sank on Sept. 3, 2020, only three have been rescued and recovered so far. Two survived the ordeal, but the third one died.