05:55 AM Sep 11, 2010
HE BARELY speaks any English, but when Filipino Leopoldo de Guzman Jr flew here last October after paying 15,000 pesos ($447) in agents' fees, he was hurriedly made to sign a contract written in English, then packed off on board a Taiwanese fishing vessel.
For the next nine months, Mr de Guzman, 32, hauled heavy fishing gear for 18 hours daily and had no contact with his wife and two children back home.
When his vessel, Taiyuan 32, docked in Singapore recently, Mr de Guzman broke his contract and got off the boat with two countrymen, forgoing his hard-earned wages.
Even then, their freedom did not come easy. The men only got their passports back from the ship's captain after telling him they needed to buy medicine on land. But they never returned to the ship.
In July, they flew home with the help of a local migrant workers' group, the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
The predicament of foreign fishermen like Mr de Guzman is often outside the ambit of government agencies in Singapore. Seafarers do not come under the Employment Act, and to add to their vulnerability, these fishermen are often unqualified and without seamen's books. The book would entitle them to help from the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, which is affiliated to the National Trades Union Congress.
For the next nine months, Mr de Guzman, 32, hauled heavy fishing gear for 18 hours daily and had no contact with his wife and two children back home.
When his vessel, Taiyuan 32, docked in Singapore recently, Mr de Guzman broke his contract and got off the boat with two countrymen, forgoing his hard-earned wages.
Even then, their freedom did not come easy. The men only got their passports back from the ship's captain after telling him they needed to buy medicine on land. But they never returned to the ship.
In July, they flew home with the help of a local migrant workers' group, the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
The predicament of foreign fishermen like Mr de Guzman is often outside the ambit of government agencies in Singapore. Seafarers do not come under the Employment Act, and to add to their vulnerability, these fishermen are often unqualified and without seamen's books. The book would entitle them to help from the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, which is affiliated to the National Trades Union Congress.
REFUGE IN NGOs
Some fishermen have found refuge in non-government organisations here. Home began seeing such cases in early April and has since encountered 26 fishermen facing problems.
Most were referred by foreign domestic workers here whose relatives are on the ships, said its executive director Jolovan Wham.
MediaCorp met up with four Filipino fishermen including Mr de Guzman at Home's office while they were awaiting their flight home. They produced receipts and documents showing recruitment fees of between 15,000 and 23,000 pesos paid to an agency in the Philippines.
All said they flew to Singapore and were brought to a manning agency in Kitchener Complex where they signed their contracts. They were told the first four months of their salaries of about US$200 ($270) would go towards paying for agents' fees.
According to Home, the men often do not realise that breaking their three-year contracts incurs a penalty of US$2,000.
Last September, the Manpower Ministry investigated and found the manning agency at Kitchener Complex not to be an employment agency and hence not regulated by the Employment Agencies Act. MediaCorp understands that there is no update on the agency's status.
Another group providing a lifeline to these fishermen is the Stella Maris Catholic Seamen's Mission, which has helped crew from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Africa over the years. Port chaplain Reverend Father Romeo Yu Chang said he has encountered cases since starting work here in 2001.
NUMBERS UNCLEAR
The mission, part of the Catholic Church's Apostleship of the Sea, began documenting the fishermen's cases in 2008. It has helped 19 fishermen so far this year; the figure was 23 last year, said Father Yu. Funded by the Church of St Teresa, the mission helps the men financially and puts them up temporarily at its retreat centre.
There are no official estimates of troubled foreign fishermen passing through Singapore when their ships berth here. Father Yu believes the number of fishermen who break their contracts are "much more and we don't have an accurate record of them".
Helping the fishermen is often an uphill task. The fishermen are often hurriedly made to sign contracts - which they are not given copies of - and are often unaware of the detailed terms and conditions, said Father Yu.
The plight of the foreign fishermen has not been widely reported here. But the Singapore connection is not lost on Father Bruno Ciceri, former Taiwan director of the Apostleship of the Sea, an agency of the Catholic Church. He declined to be interviewed for this story but referred us to previous reports he wrote documenting the fishermen's circumstances.
One of the ways they are recruited, is to "fly as a tourist" to destinations like Singapore (for Filipino fishermen), Bangkok (for Vietnamese fishermen) and Davao (for Indonesian fishermen), where they board the vessels, he reported.
"An amount of US$1,000/2,000 is paid before leaving their country and in the airport (they) are asked to sign a contract that will condemn them to three years of slavery with a monthly salary of US$120/150, of which US$100 is kept by the agent in Singapore and will be given only at the end of their contract only if they sign off in Singapore," Father Ciceri wrote for an International Christian Maritime Association regional conference held in 2005.
Father Ciceri, whose Taiwan stint lasted from 1996 to 2008, is now based at The Vatican. The same problems have persisted over the years, he said.
AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM
In its 2009 Global Report on Forced Labour, the International Labour Organisation reported that "more evidence is coming to light that seafarers and fishers can be at particular risk of forced labour and trafficking". More research is required on how they are recruited and placed on ships, as well as "restrictions in practice on their right to leave vessels".
In Asia, the ILO noted the existence of forced labour in Thailand's fishing industry. News reports in recent months have cited Cambodian men being trafficked to work on board Thai fishing vessels.
While the ILO report did not mention Filipinos working on Taiwanese vessels, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore regards these workers as "illegally deployed and their recruitment constitutes a form of human trafficking".
An embassy spokesperson told MediaCorp that many of these fishermen are former farmers without seamanship training or experience. "The embassy has previously seen contracts that contain only the signature of the fishermen, without the corresponding signature from the employer or agent," he said. "In these cases, there is difficulty in establishing a definite employer-employee relationship."
But the Philippine Government has now amended its Migrant Workers Law to better protect its workers from being illegally recruited and trafficked, the spokesperson added.
Although Singapore's Employment Act does not apply to these fishermen, Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob believes the same principles of protection for foreign workers in Singapore should apply to them. "This requires an agency to look into complaints of abuse or exploitation, otherwise such incidents by unscrupulous foreign and local agents will only give Singapore a bad reputation," she said.
Migrant worker issues also require greater collaboration among countries, said Mdm Halimah, who is also chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower. Countries whose citizens go abroad to work should ensure control over activities of manpower agents there "as the seeds of exploitation usually start there", she said.
Some fishermen have found refuge in non-government organisations here. Home began seeing such cases in early April and has since encountered 26 fishermen facing problems.
Most were referred by foreign domestic workers here whose relatives are on the ships, said its executive director Jolovan Wham.
MediaCorp met up with four Filipino fishermen including Mr de Guzman at Home's office while they were awaiting their flight home. They produced receipts and documents showing recruitment fees of between 15,000 and 23,000 pesos paid to an agency in the Philippines.
All said they flew to Singapore and were brought to a manning agency in Kitchener Complex where they signed their contracts. They were told the first four months of their salaries of about US$200 ($270) would go towards paying for agents' fees.
According to Home, the men often do not realise that breaking their three-year contracts incurs a penalty of US$2,000.
Last September, the Manpower Ministry investigated and found the manning agency at Kitchener Complex not to be an employment agency and hence not regulated by the Employment Agencies Act. MediaCorp understands that there is no update on the agency's status.
Another group providing a lifeline to these fishermen is the Stella Maris Catholic Seamen's Mission, which has helped crew from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Africa over the years. Port chaplain Reverend Father Romeo Yu Chang said he has encountered cases since starting work here in 2001.
NUMBERS UNCLEAR
The mission, part of the Catholic Church's Apostleship of the Sea, began documenting the fishermen's cases in 2008. It has helped 19 fishermen so far this year; the figure was 23 last year, said Father Yu. Funded by the Church of St Teresa, the mission helps the men financially and puts them up temporarily at its retreat centre.
There are no official estimates of troubled foreign fishermen passing through Singapore when their ships berth here. Father Yu believes the number of fishermen who break their contracts are "much more and we don't have an accurate record of them".
Helping the fishermen is often an uphill task. The fishermen are often hurriedly made to sign contracts - which they are not given copies of - and are often unaware of the detailed terms and conditions, said Father Yu.
The plight of the foreign fishermen has not been widely reported here. But the Singapore connection is not lost on Father Bruno Ciceri, former Taiwan director of the Apostleship of the Sea, an agency of the Catholic Church. He declined to be interviewed for this story but referred us to previous reports he wrote documenting the fishermen's circumstances.
One of the ways they are recruited, is to "fly as a tourist" to destinations like Singapore (for Filipino fishermen), Bangkok (for Vietnamese fishermen) and Davao (for Indonesian fishermen), where they board the vessels, he reported.
"An amount of US$1,000/2,000 is paid before leaving their country and in the airport (they) are asked to sign a contract that will condemn them to three years of slavery with a monthly salary of US$120/150, of which US$100 is kept by the agent in Singapore and will be given only at the end of their contract only if they sign off in Singapore," Father Ciceri wrote for an International Christian Maritime Association regional conference held in 2005.
Father Ciceri, whose Taiwan stint lasted from 1996 to 2008, is now based at The Vatican. The same problems have persisted over the years, he said.
AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM
In its 2009 Global Report on Forced Labour, the International Labour Organisation reported that "more evidence is coming to light that seafarers and fishers can be at particular risk of forced labour and trafficking". More research is required on how they are recruited and placed on ships, as well as "restrictions in practice on their right to leave vessels".
In Asia, the ILO noted the existence of forced labour in Thailand's fishing industry. News reports in recent months have cited Cambodian men being trafficked to work on board Thai fishing vessels.
While the ILO report did not mention Filipinos working on Taiwanese vessels, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore regards these workers as "illegally deployed and their recruitment constitutes a form of human trafficking".
An embassy spokesperson told MediaCorp that many of these fishermen are former farmers without seamanship training or experience. "The embassy has previously seen contracts that contain only the signature of the fishermen, without the corresponding signature from the employer or agent," he said. "In these cases, there is difficulty in establishing a definite employer-employee relationship."
But the Philippine Government has now amended its Migrant Workers Law to better protect its workers from being illegally recruited and trafficked, the spokesperson added.
Although Singapore's Employment Act does not apply to these fishermen, Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob believes the same principles of protection for foreign workers in Singapore should apply to them. "This requires an agency to look into complaints of abuse or exploitation, otherwise such incidents by unscrupulous foreign and local agents will only give Singapore a bad reputation," she said.
Migrant worker issues also require greater collaboration among countries, said Mdm Halimah, who is also chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower. Countries whose citizens go abroad to work should ensure control over activities of manpower agents there "as the seeds of exploitation usually start there", she said.
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Filipino fishermen with fake copies of the seamen's book their recruitment agency in the Philippines procured for them. They declined to be photographed for fear of repercussions at home. Photo by Neo Chai Chin
TODAYonline | Singapore | In peril on the high seas
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