"The Mritime Liens and Ship Mortgage Act of 2002." Rationale: The Philippine Overseas shipping industry has long been confronted with the absence of available financing in their efforts to replace ageing and uneconomical bottoms. Existing Philippinelaws on maritime liens are inadequate thus hampering much needed foreign ship financing. Considering the international character of shipping, it is mandatory that the provisions of a ship mortgage law conform to the internationally recognized modernpractices; otherwise foreign financing will continue to deny the much needed foreign financing that Filipino shop-owners require to replace and/or increase their fleet. > This bill enumerates and defines the preference of maritime liens to enable shhip financiers to assess favorably ship mortgages in the Philippines to insure repayment of the loan. Moreover, this bill deals with maritime liens separately from ship mortgages and limits the number of claims secured by maritime liens to a minimum.