In his paper titled “Flag of Convenience and Philippine Setting”, the lawyer said: “As a supplying state, it appears that the Philippines is more keen on sending more and more Filipino seafarers on board ocean-going vessels and to benefit there from, through the dollar remittances they send back to the country.”

“To ensure the steady growth of labor supply,” Entero said, “the government, while praising them as the modern-day heroes, considers Filipino seafarers as mere commodities (as) the value of their services are being reduced or diminished to make them more competitive with other supply countries as China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and other European countries.”

The seafarers’ number continuously grows

Based on 2007 data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), there were 389,607 Filipinos whose contracts to work on sea vessels had been processed by private agencies as well as by regional agencies of the POEA—an outstanding 9.65-percent increase from the number of Filipinos wanting to work on-board in 2006, who numbered 355,329 that year. (For complete reference, kindly see the table below).

POEA’s The data further show that there were about 226,990 Filipino seafarers working on ships registered on a flag in 2007, a 0.05-percent decrease from 2006. (See table below).

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