The Luneta Seafarers’ Center
Home of the World-Class Filipino Seafarer |
KALAW has been the hub of Filipino seafarers for the past three decades. For some strange reason, they all converge here – from captain to ratings – at an average rate of two thousand seafarers everyday!
Unfortunately, for the same period of time, they have been a neglected segment of society. A striking irony, considering that Filipino seafarers are the biggest dollar earners for the country – a feat unparalleled to this day – and we are saying this without exaggeration or qualification. The time is ripe and propitious, therefore, that we accord our modern-day heroes the kingly treatment that they truly deserve. |
The Luneta Seafarers' Center |
|
The Luneta Seafarers’ Welfare Foundation, Inc. (LUSWELF) runs the Luneta Seafarers’ Center, which occupies two thousand five hundred sixteen (2,516) square meters, more or less, of leased property from the National Government, along that strip of Kalaw where the seafarers converge. It provides many sorts of services to seafarers in the area – from temporary shelters, financially stable manning agencies and shipping companies, to free legal advice from our in-house counsel. |
The sidewalk along Kalaw has been the hub of Filipino seafarers for the past three decades. |
The Center boasts of a two-storey building with a dormitory for seafarers at a very affordable price. Its improved surroundings are occupied by first-class sheds made of Dacron cloth - one of the very few in the Philippines. Manning agencies occupy the manning information booths that line both sides of the Center – of great convenience to a seafarer who is now saved from the hassle of traveling all over Metro Manila in search for the right employment.
Our most recent and prized possession, however, are the satellite offices of the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC). These government agencies directly concerned with the welfare of Filipino seafarers, and their presence at the Center, is a big step towards LUSWELF’s goal of making the Center a one-stop center for all the needs of a seafarer.
|
|
What used to be an underground market for recruitment of manpower along that strip of Kalaw is now a haven for our marginalized seafarers, as well as a legitimate and organized venue for manning information dissemination.
The Foundation aims to make the Center a home to the Filipino seafarer who, until now, is still unparalleled in his status as a world-class seafarer. Considering that the Philippines supplies manpower to more or less 23% of the world’s fleet of merchant ships, it is but forthright that we accord our seafarers a kingly treatment as our modern-day heroes.
To the Filipino seafarer, to you we say: WELCOME HOME. |
