MANILA, Philippines – A number of Filipino migrant fishers and labor groups on Thursday, November 21, called on the Philippine government to ratify the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188).

The convention seeks to protect fishers on board fishing vessels and advance decent working conditions.

Filipino migrant fishers, especially those working in Chinese and Taiwanese fishing ships, face a number of challenges — from the recruitment process to work at sea.

Isolated at sea, many of these migrant fishers are forced to work long hours, endure injuries and illnesses without receiving proper medical attention, and live under substandard conditions.

A number of Filipino migrant fishers who worked in Chinese tuna ships in the Southwest Indian Ocean have attested to human rights abuses and illegal fishing practices.

In 2024 report, London-based non-profit Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) interviewed Indonesian, Filipino, and Mozambican fishers. Abuses come in the form of physical violence, intimidation, retention of identity documents, excessive overtime, among others.

“Kami ay walang umpay na nagtatrabaho, araw man o gabi,” Charlie*, a migrant fisher, said on Thursday. “Masaya na kami kung nakaka-tulog kami ng apat na oras.”

(We work nonstop, from morning ’til night. We’re happy if we get four hours of sleep.)

He was speaking at a forum organized by Associated Philippine Seafarer’s Union, Associated Labor Unions, Stella Maris Manila, and Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).

But labor violations do not only hound them at sea. A number of their families back home claim not getting what is due the migrant fishers.

“’Pag-uwi namin, mas matinding pagsubok pa [ang] aming haharapin dahil ang aming pinaghirapan ay hindi kami nababayaran,” Charlie said.

(When we go home, there’s a bigger problem awaiting us because we we’re not paid for all that we worked for.)

Charlie’s experience is not isolated, based on a four-year investigation of journalists from The Outlaw Ocean Project that looked into the human rights and labor violations in Chinese fishing ships. One of the anecdotes in the investigation was about Filipino migrant fishers who filmed themselves calling for help.

“We are already sick here. The captain won’t send us to the hospital,” one of the crew members, quoted in the report, said.

What’s Convention No. 188?

The ILO created the Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188) in 2007. It then came into force in November 2017 after being adopted by 10 ILO member-countries.

Convention 188 sets standards for decent working conditions aboard commercial fishing vessels, and seeks to protect migrant fishers from labor violations and abuses.

It sets safeguards against the increasing demand for food and labor and how these have been affecting the fisheries sector.

Currently, the convention is now in force in 21 countries. Thailand, exposed for forced labor in its fishing fleets, is the only Southeast Asian country on the list so far.

Some of the conditions in the treaty specify that fishers should:

• Be given regular and sufficient periods of rest (for example, fishers at sea for more than three days should have a minimum of 10 hours of rest)
• Have an opportunity to review and seek advice on the work agreement
• Be repatriated when the agreement expires or when they can’t carry out their work anymore
• Get paid regularly and be given the means to transmit their salaries to families free of charge
• Be provided “sufficient” accommodation, nutritious meals, and potable water on board
• Have the right to be taken ashore “in a timely manner” to get medical treatment

Efforts and hopes

Ratifying the convention is only the first step. If the Philippine government ratifies this, it will have to implement and enforce laws that will fulfill the commitments under the convention.

“If he [President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] is to be a modern and modernizing president, he has to ask [the Senate] for ratification of ILO Convention 188,” said Luis Corral of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. It is the Senate that ratifies international conventions.

In the same forum, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said they have “been consistently in support of the Philippine government’s ongoing efforts to ratify and implement the ILO Working Fishing Convention 2007 or ILO C188 which will further safeguard fishers’ rights.”

According to Cacdac, 8,000 Filipino migrant fishers were deployed in 2023 — and 5,500 more in the last quarter. They mostly come from Calabarzon, Western and Central Visayas.

This year, Cacdac said, they shut down 14 illegal recruitment establishments and allotted P2.8 billion to provide legal and financial assistance to fishers in distress.

He acknowledged the issues of “inadequate wages, poor working conditions, contract substitution, and even abandonment” and said they are working on a platform where fishers can report violations.

While more workers leave their homes to fish in distant seas, governments supplying labor are hard-pressed to set in place protections for their citizens.

Charlie said he hopes that one day, changes will come in his line of work — that migrant fishers like him will have enough food and clean water; they will get medicines that are not expired; they don’t get abused; and, they finally receive their full salaries.

“Nais ko sana darating ang araw, mababayaran kami nang sapat at tama kung ano ‘yung nararapat para sa aming pinagpapaguran na dugo at pawis ang aming pinuhunan,” said Charlie.

(I hope that day comes when we will be paid for what we worked sweat and blood for.) – Rappler.com

*Not his real name