By HERBERT VEGO
WHY has this column repeatedly played up labor cases handled by the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS) under maritime lawyer Pedro Linsangan?
ONE good reason is because we have overseas seafarers who quit before expiration of their contract either due to disability or death. With no legal assistance, they would most likely miss the benefits due them under maritime laws. But with free legal assistance, they or their survivors could file a claim for due compensation either before the courts or before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).
Atty. Linsangan, now 75 years old, has already spent the entire 40 years of his legal profession helping disabled overseas seafarers. His Linsangan, Linsangan and Linsangan law office has its own building on UN Avenue, Manila.
“Since very few lawyers are well versed in maritime law, FLAS allows only experienced maritime lawyers to handle maritime cases,” Linsangan once told this writer. “No risk. We handle cases free of charge. We collect fees only on won cases.”
Team FLAS, as his legal team is known, aims to help disabled and even dead seamen gain compensation that is rightly theirs as provided by local or foreign maritime laws. Without that legal assistance, seamen victims of “cruel fate” at sea would not even know what’s missing.
That is understandable because Filipino manning agencies tend to look after the welfare of the shipping companies – being their paying principals – rather than their recruits.
And so more often than not, seamen disabled without finishing their contracted term as well as relatives of the deceased, have to fight their employers over financial settlement. Otherwise, once unfit to board another ship, they would be living the rest of their lives in penury.
An estimated 230,000 Filipino seamen today make up the Philippine share of the overseas employment. There is no doubt they are well-paid as shown by the palatial houses they construct in their native barangays, towns or cities.
As to whether they could sustain such a lifestyle for life, however, is another matter. They have no security of tenure. The standard employment contract approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) covers only nine months. Its renewal depends on the physical and mental fitness of the applicant.
The standard contract requires the principal and/or the agency to award the standard amount of US $60,000 or its peso equivalent for “total and permanent disability” to its seafarers who become “unfit to work” due to sickness or accident while on board vessel.
For death, the widow or closest living relative is entitled to receive $50,000 Moreover, a maximum of four of their minor children are also eligible to claim an additional $7,000 each for a total of $78,000, plus $1,000 for burial assistance.
Much more than that, FLAS-assisted Filipino claimants may apply for much bigger benefits by filing a case before a maritime court of certain countries where the employer ship is registered. These countries include Panama, the United States, Greece, Japan and Norway.
For instance, FLAS’ intercession enabled widow Maria Valles, whose husband died due to explosion of LPG tank on the vessel, “MV Aegian Wind”, to collect P15 million.
Julia Mandag, another widow, received of P12 million ad death compensation of her husband who perished in the sinking of “MV Baltic Ace”.
Incidentally, the Free Legal Assistance for Seafarers (FLAS) sponsors a weekly radio program, to which problematic seamen or their beneficiaries may go for legal assistance. It is “Tribuna sang Banwa” aired on DyOk Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo every Sunday, 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It is hosted by paralegals Neri Camiña, Nelly Nobleza and this writer. Camiña may be contacted through cellular phone number 09173288742./PN
