STARTING November 1, seamen shall again be required to have their travel exit clearance before their departure, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief announced.

Based on Memorandum Circular 12-1211, the POEA revoked its seven-month old policy exempting seafarers from having their exit clearances processed. So seafarers are again required to validate their exit clearance at the Labor Assistance Center (LAC).

“The exemption granted to seafarers from the requirement of validation of exit clearance at the LAC covered under Memorandum Circular 3-2011 is hereby recalled,” the circular signed by POEA Administrator Carlos Cao said.

The Philippines is one of the biggest suppliers of sea-based workers to international vessels, numbering about 350,000.

The POEA chief said the order was recalled owing to the low rate of submission of deployment reports by licensed manning agencies.

Cao said manning agencies may also provide the LAC an advance list of names and departure dates of their seafarers for deployment “to facilitate the smooth validation of their exit clearance.”

Also, Cao requested the deploying agencies to help disseminate the new policy to their seafarers.