“Seafarers are keyworkers. You are not alone. You are not forgotten”.
The flowers carry the message of love and gratitude as there is no distance of time or oceans but a mutual waiting for a reunion in peace.The job entails laborious manual tasks conducted in a moving ship, which makes for increased work-related stress aside from exposure to variant weather changes that may result in illnesses or injury to seafarers.
Former president Fidel V. Ramos earlier issued on July 9, 1996 Proclamation No. 828 declaring August 18 as NSD wherein the AOS was tasked to coordinate with the public and private sector in activities related to the celebration of the said event. The estimated 519,031 deployed Filipino seafarers in 2019 per POEA data remitted $6.539 billion or around P326.95 billion. The sea-based sector’s remittance comprise at least 22 percent of the total dollar remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers .he Panama-flagged livestock carrierThe 2002-built 133.6-meter-long ship had thirty nine Filipinos, two New Zealanders and two Australians and 5,800 cattle on board.
“We have not lost hope and we hold on to God, relying on His mighty power for miracles. Jesus said in the Bible, “Courage! Don’t be afraid. It’s me!” . We continue to pray that others may have somehow survived this tragic incident. Our thoughts and heartfelt empathy go out to all the family members and friends who are anticipating good news at home”, the AOS said.