Will our seafaring countrymen be spared?

As the country awaits the audit results of the influential European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on the employment fate of our Filipino officers assigned to man European vessels, here now is much-delayed news from our esteemed colleagues in Congress.

Two weeks ago, our legislators passed on third and final reading a bill that will enforce the creation of a single maritime agency dealing with the training and certification of Filipino seafarers. The President is expected to sign the bill into law any day now.

P-Noy’s signature is expected to stave off the issuance of a negative EMSA report, one that could trigger the review of other maritime safety agencies and influence serious withdrawal of certifications by other countries.

Worse, the issuance of a negative EMSA could project a further deterioration in the reputation of Filipino seafarers, and could affect not just the fate of our shipping officers who have worked hard to carve their careers for years, but even the many fledgling crew members of ships and future graduates of shipping schools.

Too late?

Assuming that an EMSA report, which is expected to be released within the quarter of this year, will be able to buy the Philippines a few more years, will the signed law – one that first and foremost gives the Philippine Maritime Industry Association (Marina) the sole jurisdiction of making sure that all our Filipino seafarers pass international standards – help?

The bill that is to be signed by P-Noy says that Marina will take over the work that all government agencies are currently doing related to seafarer training and development. Judging from the number of agencies involved, plus the tasks that will have to be assumed, this does not seem to be a task that can be accomplished in a few months’ time. Will this expected law be too late?

Let us not forget that EMSA had generously given the Philippines enough time to mend its flaws, patiently waiting for our government to institute reforms that will make us compliant with the requirements of the 1978 International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (SCTW).

EMSA did its first audit in 2006, coming back in 2010, then in 2012, and most recently in October 2013, only to find out that nothing much had been done with regards its findings and recommended measures for compliance. As expected, a stern warning was issued that continued inaction on the part of the Philippines would lead to the ban on Filipino officers.

Focus on monitoring and quality management

What EMSA wants to see first and foremost is the institutionalization of a system that will effectively monitor the country’s compliance to SCTW standards, as well as the presence of a quality management system – the end result being that our graduates are sure to be SCTW-compliant.

In 2012, P-Noy, in a seemingly desperate act, signed an executive order designating Marina as the sole body in charge. However, this proved to be an ineffective solution, although it did help to delay any forthcoming negative sanctions by EMSA.

The latest word is that the issuance of the EMSA audit findings will be delayed by another six months pending a report on the effects of Super Typhoon Yolanda (internationally codenamed Haiyan). This should give Marina time to draft and pass the two important measures that EMSA needs on monitoring and quality management.

Improving maritime schools and training

Then and only then will we see solid changes that should start with having SCTW-compliant schools and training centers that will produce new seamen and upgrade the skills of existing crew and officers. There are close to a hundred maritime colleges in the country now, augmented by more than a hundred training centers.

Currently, there are about 30,000 students who graduate maritime courses in a year, a figure way too high for the global industry’s demands, but more importantly, too many not passing the more stringent international maritime quality standards. Only about 15 percent of these graduates eventually are able to board a ship.

This does not even take into consideration the higher number of students that drop out on or before their third year of training, wasting their parents’ precious earnings and ending up in unrelated and below standard jobs with no prospects of real development.

Quota system

On this score, Marina has to strictly enforce a quota system for accepting students in maritime courses, to be based on projected demand for graduates in jobs both locally and on foreign vessels.

This approach should be easier than the next all-important task, i.e., getting the concerned schools to come up with training programs and courses that will produce graduates that will be acceptable to global maritime safety standards.

Perhaps, if Marina will be able to focus on priorities within the next months, we will see some order emerging in this chaotic situation that has remained unresolved since 1978 when the SCTW was prescribed, and with the successive audits made by EMSA.

Hopefully, a strengthened Marina presence will also be able to bring some clarity in the roles of involved government agencies like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) under a new set-up.

Contingencies

Finally, bearing in mind that EMSA has become more firm in its warnings that it will not spare the rod this time, our government should already prepare for contingencies that would mitigate any negative fallout from a possible adverse EMSA ruling.

After being negligent and obtuse in solving this problem that would ultimately affect more than 80,000 Filipino seafarers and accounts for a substantial inflow of foreign exchange earnings, we can only hope that Marina and our government officials will use any extension that may be granted to diligently and immediately set things right, and that the forthcoming law giving Marina the main responsibility in making our seafarers compliant to international safety standards would be effectively implemented. –Rey Gamboa (The Philippine Star)