Partners, Lawyers & Staff of SAPALO VELEZ BUNDANG & BULILAN LAW OFFICES during the firm’s 38th ANNIVERSARY held at the Makati Sports Club, Makati City, on August 1, 2014.
SVBB celebrates 38th year anniversary
The Philippines is considered a major supplier of maritime labor globally. Per POEA data for the year 2013, there were 367,166 Filipino seafarers deployed abroad comprising almost 30 percent of the global maritime labor force.
Given the important role of Filipino seafarers, the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan (SVBB) law offices remains to be one of the leading movers advocating seafarers’ rights through initiatives showcasing its commitment to the principle of social justice. SVBB recently celebrated its 38th year anniversary last August 1, 2014 at the Makati Sports Club.
The SVBB cooperates with various stakeholders in ensuring better protection and more benefits for seafarers, often working with government and non-government agencies. Ably supported by an excellent staff, it responds to seafarer matters requiring legal expertise and assists seafarers in the prosecution of their cases.
The SVBB has played an instrumental role in assisting families of those who perished in the tragic sinking of several vessels in transit namely the “MV Sea Pine” in October 1978 in Japan, the “MV Antiparos” in January 1981 in South America, the “MV Elma Tres” in November 1981 in Germany, and the “MT Maasguar” in March 1989 also in Japan. The SVBB likewise assisted in facilitating the claims of seafarers who died or were injured during the sinking of the oil rig “DB 29” in the South China Sea in August 1991.
Taking its vision of championing seafarers’ rights to heart, the firm, in 2005, entered a formal collaboration with the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS)-Philippines an office of the Episcopal Commission of Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant people (ECMI) of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines.
The SVBB also participates in the activities of various maritime organizations, unions and non-government organizations such as the United Filipino Seafarers (UFS), Philippines, Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAW), and Luneta Seafarers Welfare Foundation (LUSWELF), Bantay OCW, Sailors Society, the local CBCP Migrants desks and the different seafarers’ family/wives organizations to promote the well-being of seafarers and the working class as a whole.
SVBB likewise believes that the best way to afford legal protection to seafarers is for them to be informed them of their legal rights. SVBB carries this out through lectures on seafarers’ welfare and legal rights in maritime schools, organizations, seafarers’ dormitories, and parishes all over the Philippines and through legal publications and radio programs. SVBB’s Atty. Augusto R. Bundang is a columnist of Tinig ng Marino.
During the past 19 years, SVBB has been actively participating in the annual AOS-led National Seafarers Day (NSD) which is celebrated during the last Sunday of September through various activities: nationwide, including but not limited to the holding of a grand parade ecumenical mass, memorial at sea, oratorical contest, and the search for the top ten maritime students of the Philippines. SVBB is part of the NSD committee.