GLOBAL leaders from organizations representing shipowners and unions raised grave concerns about ambulance chasing and the abuse of the seafarer compensation system in the Philippines during the foreign policy tour of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Brussels on Dec. 13, 2022.

The top agenda of the meeting was to address the impending barring of as many as 50,000 Filipino licensed maritime officers and engineers onboard European Union-flagged vessels over qualification issues found in the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) audit.