1:50pm February 10, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho The experience of a Korean seafarer posted by Humans at Sea focused on inaction of the owner after he suffered an accident while on board the vessel during the effectivity of his employment contract. The owner refused to send him to a doctor despite…
3:51 am Friday, February 10, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, into a ship, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. The verb smuggle, from Low German schmuggeln or Dutch smokkelen (=”to transport (goods) illegally”), apparently a frequentative formation of a word meaning “to sneak”, most likely entered the English language…
10:47 pm Tuesday, February 7, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho One of the unfortunate consequences of seafarers working away for several months is the falling out of marriage. For couples desperate to find a way out of their troubled marriages, some choose to undergo trying and tedious legal process where they have to incur…
4:16 am Monday, February 6, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho A job of a seafarer is not exactly a walk in the park. Seafarers working for companies for a long period of time are normally saddled with heavy responsibilities relative to the navigation of the vessel, ship safety, and management of emergencies. A seafarer can be…
2:37 am Monday, February 6, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho Newspapers reported that a 19-year-old cadet from India died last March 29, 2017 on board a merchant ship in Brussels, Belgium. Earlier, MV Starlite Atlantic sank the morning of December 26, 2016 off Tingloy, Batangas due to the onslaught of Typhoon Nina. Fourteen of the 33 crewmen onboard…
2:41 am Friday, February 3, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho Seafarers are not entitled to the benefits given to a regular or permanent employee such as 13thmonth pay, reinstatement, separation or termination pay or some instances, even retirement benefits since they are considered merely as contractual employees. This has been the consistent ruling of…
11:34 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho Seafaring is a tradition which encompasses a variety of professions and ranks. Each of these roles carries unique responsibilities which are integral to the successful operation of a seafaring vessel. A ship’s crew can generally be divided into four main categories: the deck department, the engineering…
2:50 am Wednesday, February 1, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho My speech as President of MARLAW Induction and Fellowship Night January 10, 2017 The start of my term as president of the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAW) with Hon. Raul Pangalangan, former UPLaw Dean and now Judge of the International Criminal…
11:18 am Tuesday, January 31, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho A Philippine passport is both a travel document and a primary national identity document issued to citizens of the Philippines since there is no national identity card system in the Philippines. It is issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Philippine diplomatic missions abroad, with certain exceptions. The new biometric Philippine passport costs 950 pesos (approximately $21) in the Philippines…
12:43 am Tuesday, January 31, 2017 By: Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho A job of a seafarer is not exactly a walk in the park. One with a heart condition is “a walking time bomb ready to explode towards the end of his employment days.” Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a term to describe conditions of the…