World-class RP seamen a force in Japan

goodnewspilipinas.com at inquirer.net
First Posted 16:16:00 03/04/2009

FILIPINO seamen are world-class and over 70 percent of Japanese maritime operations are now manned by Filipinos.

Toshitaka Hagiwara, senior advisor of Komatsu Ltd., said this rousing statement during the 28th joint meeting of the Japan-Philippines Economic Cooperation Committee.

Hagiwara is JPECC chairman. Komatsu Ltd., for which he serves as senior advisor, is a world leading manufacturer and distributor of construction and mining equipment, utilities and industrial machineries. The company has been operating in the Philippines for decades.

“Over 200,000 Filipino citizens now live in Japan. In addition, and this is not so widely known, Japanese maritime shipping operations now rely on Filipino sailors for about 70 percent of their crewmembers,” Hagiwara said.

“Almost all major Japanese shipping companies have opened maritime crew training facilities in the Philippines, expecting to develop ready access to highly qualified Filipino sailors from hereon,” Hagiwara said.

Under the JPEPA, Hagiwara said Japan also has widely opened its doors to Filipino nurses and caregivers.

Even before the ratification of JPEPA, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has likewise been acknowledging Japan’s trust and confidence on Filipino seamen, many of whom have become management level ship officers such as masters and chief engineers.

Filipino seamen comprise a major segment of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sector and have consistently been a major source of dollar remittances that help prop up the country’s domestic economy for years now.

Doris Magsaysay-Ho, president and chief executive officer of Magsaysay Maritime Corporation, the largest manning company in the country, said there are over 28,000 Filipinos currently working on Japanese ships who remitted over more than $3 billion last year.

With more than 25 years of maritime partnership between Japan and the Philippines, Ho said Filipinos now comprise 55 percent of the membership of the All Japan Seaman’s Union and are classified as non-domiciled special members.