Filipino migrant fishermen in Nanfang’ao, Taiwan, held a celebratory mass and basketball tournament Saturday to mark the first birthday of a seafarer’s association founded to tackle rights violations and other labor issues.
Around 130 Filipino fishermen, based mainly in the major coastal fishing port of Nanfang’ao, Yilan County, have joined the chapter of the Philippine Seafarers (Fishers) Association in Taiwan (PSAT) since its establishment last year.
Filipino fisherman Jerald Bautista, who attended the celebration on Saturday, said it was important that migrant workers were informed of their rights.
Leoni Pascual Ngo of the Migrant Workers’ Concern Desk, told CNA that the organization had helped to establish the PSAT in hopes of forming a mutual support network for Filipino fishermen in Nanfang’ao.
“They have to learn to empower themselves so that they can defend and be aware of their rights here in Taiwan,” Ngo said…