Maritime
POEA, MARINA to develop
universal ID system for
Filipino seafarers
L
abor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III yesterday announced that
the Governing Board of the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration
has approved and issued GB Resolution
No. 13, Series of 2016, which calls for the
development of a universal identification system for
Filipino seafarers.
“The Governing Board Resolution is aimed at developing a universal ID system for seafarers that is acceptable to all government agencies and port states
in compliance with relevant conventions,” said Bello,
who is also the chairperson of the POEA Board.
Under the resolution, the POEA will be coordinating with the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to
develop an online registration system for seafarers by
15 September 2016 and will conduct an information
dissemination campaign to Filipino seafarers and licensed manning agencies to create awareness of the
benefits of the online registration system.
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Secretary Bello added that Filipino seafarers are
given Seafarer’s Registration Certificate with ID numbers for easy access to their POEA records and for the
efficient processing of their employment certificate.
“The POEA has established a Seafarer’s Registry to
maintain a pool of qualified seafarers. This is essential
for policy research and supply and demand analysis,”
said Bello.
MARINA, on the other hand, issues Seafarer Identification and Record Book (SIRB) in compliance with the
International Labor Organization Convention No. 108,
1958, which serves as the Filipino seafarers identification document while on board ships.
ILO has also adopted Convention 185, or the Seafarer’s Identity Document Convention, which introduced
modern security features into the seafarer’s ID that
shall be recognizable to all member states accessing
the ID Cards through the implementation of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Documents
9303.