The government has kept seafarers’ hopes afloat despite the global financial crisis which has sliced job opportunities abroad.

Through the Luneta Seafarer’s Center which holds daily job fair offering 1,000 jobs from captain to ratings abroad, effects of the financial meltdown were diminished, according to seamen.

Second-mate officer Rommel Paguntalan, 37, lauded the systematic delivery of services for the recruitment and deployment of Filipino workers through the facility situated near Rizal Park in Manila.

“The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) share practically the same level of almost unparalleled commitment towards Filipino seafarers and their families. In my case for instance, I was stranded in Manila and got a job at the Luneta Seafarer’s Center,” said Paguntalan, who was among those affected by the global economic crunch.

The two-storey facility on a 2,516-square meter government property provides a variety of services to seafarers in the area from dormitory, 112 manning and shipping information booths, medical mission to free legal advice.

The center houses satellite offices of the POEA, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), and other government agencies relevant to the processing of employment documents for seamen.

Paguntalan said that the POEA has managed to balance the economic interest and the safety of our people through its policies despite the effects of the financial crisis.

Earlier, DoLE/POEA agreed to adjust and refine policies to minimize the safety risks of seafarers onboard foreign vessels that pass through the Gulf of Aden after some Filipino seamen were held captive by pirates in Somalia.

Ricardo Fajardo, another job applicant in the center, expressed his appreciation to the DoLE/POEA “for institutionalizing a good initiative like documenting legally recruited Filipino workers, providing them welfare assistance services and conducting registration for Filipino workers for manpower pooling and placement purposes.”

“We would like to acknowledge the great efforts of these agencies that they exerted in generating employment for Filipino workers,” Fajardo said.