Around 50,000 Filipino seafarers working on European vessels would have been put at risk had the Philippines not shown “serious efforts” to comply with the European Commission's International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers.
Text and photos by LUCIA P. TANGI (Conclusion) A week before she was about to leave the country for her first job on a cruise liner, Mary Valdez (not her real name) received a text message from her crewing agency. She was instructed to return to the clinic where she had completed her medical examination
Text and photos by LUCIA P. TANGI (First of two parts) The image of an olive-skinned man or a “barako” who has “a girl in every port” usually comes to mind when one mentions the word seafarer. The stereotype stems from the dominance of men in the maritime industry since the country started its massive
