Finding cure to various maritime indifferences

AMONG the many ironies of the Philippines is that despite being an archipelagic nation, its maritime laws are underdeveloped and government is not even fully aware of how the shipping and manning sectors work.

Such concerns have finally drawn attention from the general public with the onslaught of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), with sea-based workers and shipping disruptions splashed on the news on a daily basis.

“Reality shows that not everyone is aware of the concerns of the seafaring sector,” said maritime lawyer Julius Yano of the Del Rosario and Del Rosario Law Offices, and member of the Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs and the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines.

“Having an underdeveloped maritime law is difficult; it means getting people in Congress to support your advocacy, and that has been quite a challenge. For one reason or another, not much attention is given to this field,” Yano said.

He cited other smaller and newer maritime nations that were able to enforce codified shipping laws in the form of a merchant shipping code. “I believe that having a similar piece of legislation would show the importance that we give to the maritime sector; it would be symbolic of the country’s shift towards realizing our maritime potential,” he explained.

More than nine-tenths of global trade is conducted at sea on some 100,000 merchant vessels with around 1.2 million seafarers, a quarter of which are Filipinos — the biggest sector by country of origin.

Philippines, for decades, has been considered as the “manning capital of the world” as it represents a third of the global seafarers and supplies the biggest number of ratings onboard ships. For the first quarter of 2019, Filipino seafarers have sent home $2.14 billion of cash remittances, a 10.7-percent increase from the same period in 2018.

The cure to indifference

“The executive branch of our government should be more conscious about the importance of the maritime sphere, both in relation to the law of the sea and shipping law. Thus, they would be more amenable to exploring and developing it,”Yano said.

The maritime lawyer, however, contemplated how the world is currently struggling with the pandemic along with its novel problems that are unprecedented on existing regulations. “We are not dealing with this alone, we have to assist the government in understanding the problem and it is necessary to communicate, coordinate and cooperate,” he said.

Maritime lawyer Julius Yano.

“As things have developed the past months, we ought to have realized already the copious concerns that the government is addressing in regard to the pandemic. I believe it helpful to remember that there is an international body for shipping, the International Maritime Organization, which addresses shipping-related concerns. Working with other bodies, such as the International Labor Organization, they provide guidelines for

states in relation to issues arising from the pandemic, including fatigue experienced onboard, crew mobility and travel restrictions,”Yano added.

He also cited how the pandemic has united the industry for the sake of its people who help run the global trade and commerce. Yano acknowledged how employers, unions, welfare groups and other individuals from the industry have come together to raise the concerns of affected seafarers to the government.

“We are all a part of one system. The problems felt by one sector will definitely have an adverse effect on all others at some point, to some extent,” he said.

Yano, the second of four children, was influenced by his parents, a mother who is a doctor and father who serves as a public servant, to be aware of social issues and find ways to help. This led him to enlist as reserve officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and take up law at the University of the Philippines. He then went to Europe for advanced studies on International Maritime Law where he later on gave lectures on the Law of the Sea.

These experiences and societal awareness gave Yano a different lens from which he could view the maritime industry, a wider perspective that understands the interconnectivity of one sector to another, the effects of a fundamental concept of governance to an entire sector, and the mindset of optimism towards the shared goal of development.

“Do not lose hope,” he said to seafarers who are now desperate for help from the government and their manning agencies. “These are extraordinary times but we are not dealing with this alone. Employers and maritime associations never stopped reaching out to the government on your behalf, let us do our part by making others understand our plight through communication and cooperation,” he concluded.