Counting money is boring. Counting certain other things, though, can be quite interesting. Take the seafarer statistics for 2009 from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). What shipping recession were they talking about? Last year, a total of 330,424 seafarers left the country to work on board ocean-going vessels – up 26% from 261,614 in 2008. Assuming seafarers worldwide number roughly 1.3 million, Filipinos are clearly still on top. But what does being on top mean?

Set aside the billions of dollars sent home by Filipino seafarers. That’s a given – and the whole point of the country’s labour export programme. In the 1970s, it was about employment and politics, Ferdinand Marcos believing that the more young able-bodied Filipinos with jobs, the fewer recruits for the Communist New People’s Army. Today, it’s about dollar remittances and national pride. This is particularly so in the case of crewing. “Manning capital of the world” and “top crew-supplying nation” are recited like mantras by Filipino maritime executives. The suggestion is that  it’s a grand national achievement.

Maybe it is. But we haven’t heard anyone say, at least with the same sense of pride, that the country is one of the world’s leading exporters of housemaids. Yet, domestic service providers, as the POEA calls them, are also sending home dollars and thereby doing their share in propping up the national economy. Their occupation may not require a high level of technical knowledge and skills.  Even so, a good number are college undergrads and a few are graduates of nursing and education. They also speak and write English – some, better than many ratings.

In a sense, seafarers and housemaids working abroad are on the same boat. The latter will never get to own the foreign flats and mansions where they toil, although they may earn enough to build a nice little house back home. Similarly, the former won’t become shipowners. Some may end up as crewing managers or put up their own crewing agencies. All this is not a prescription against ship manning as a national economic activity. It’s simply a reminder of where it has taken the Philippines’ maritime aspirations and where it is likely to take them 15 or 20 years from now.  ~Barista Uno