QUEZON CITY, Jan. 21 (PIA) — The Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE) lauded the effort of the Joint Manning Group and SM Supermalls for coming together to pool their expertise and resources to establish the Center for Filipino seafarers.
During the Seafarer Center’s launch, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said its establishment is a tangible example of corporate social responsibility that other companies can emulate.
“It is always noble to give back to the society,” Baldoz said.
The Seafarer Center offers a wide array of services such as on-line job search, hiring events, and career talks; health management; family management; wealth management; business opportunities; pasalubong; vacation services and entertainment, among others.
It also boasts of a menu of programs and services geared towards making the migrant workers’ and their families’ lives better, with its goals aligned with the DOLE’s basic thrust of promoting gainful employment opportunities, developing human resources, and protecting and promoting the welfare of the sea-based workers.
The Seafarer Center also sustains the manning industry, one of the bright sectors of the Philippine economy, by instituting best practices in the recruitment of seafarers while fully complying with the rules and regulations of the POEA.
Baldoz commended SM Supermalls for its employment facilitation services and the JMG for its support on DOLE’s seafarer programs and projects and for being its partner, together with its member organizations and unions, in providing better services towards the continuous development of the total well-being of the Filipino seafarers.
The Center’s launch was witnessed by Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim; Seafarer Center Chairman Engr. Sammuel T. Lim; SM Supermalls President Annie Garcia; Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac; and other DOLE officials.
The launching was also witnessed by the representatives of different organizations composing the Joint Manning Group, namely Jose Albar G. Kato, Filipino Association for Mariners’ Employment, Inc. (FAME); Dario R. Alampay Jr., Filipino Shipowners’ Association, Inc. (FSA), and also the JMG Chairman; Atty. Vincent Miranda, International Maritime Association of the Philippines (Intermap); Pedro Miguel Oca, Philippine Association of Manning Agencies and Shipmanagers, Inc. (Pamas), and Eduardo U. Manese, Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council (PJMCC). (DOLE/RJB/SDL-PIA NCR)