IN a rare front-page editorial, The Manila Times on June 5 called on the two Houses of Congress to do what is necessary to ensure the urgent passage into law of the proposed Magna Carta for Seafarers. The bill is intended to implement the standards set by the 2006 International Maritime Convention and benefit Filipino seafarers who constitute the single biggest national group (some 600,000) of those sailing international ships around the world.

Southern Tagalog or Calabarzon (Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal) provides the most number of Filipino seafarers, followed by Western Visayas (Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros); the least number comes from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Indeed, seafaring has become one of the main income earners for Filipinos. If one day we decide to become a sea power, one of the reasons will be because we have all the manpower skills needed for it.