Deficiencies which EMSA inspectors noted are related to maritime education & training institutions
The Philippines must upgrade standards in the training and education of seafarers even as the European Union is preparing to announce whether Filipino maritime crew is complying with a 1995 convention on standards.
Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on education, warned that if the EU says the Philippines has not been complying with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, Filipino seafarers will be barred from working on
“The maritime industry will be seriously undermined if the government does not take decisive steps to improve not only the national system of maritime education and training in the country, but also the development and implementation of a strong and comprehensive agenda for Filipino seafarers,” he said.
Quoting figures from the Labor department, Angara said Filipinos make up around 30 percent of all seafarers. Those seafarers send home around $300 million (P12.9 billion) a year. If the Portugal-based European Maritime Safety Agency finds Philippine training standards are not within SCTW standards, the loss of jobs will affect the 25 percent of remittances from seafarers, Angara said.
Angara is the author of the proposed Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers, which directs the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to make sure training programs are “in consonance with the demands of global maritime industry as well as with the requirements of STCW ’78, as amended.”
According to the Senate Legislative Information System, Angara’s bill has yet to hurdle the Senate committees on labor and foreign relations.
A 2006 inspection by European regulators found Philippine monitoring of training and educational programs lacking.
“The deficiencies that the EMSA inspectors noted were those relating to maritime administration, monitoring of maritime education and training institutions (METIs), requirements for seafarers’ certification, management level course, and other findings relating to METIs,” the Labor department said in June.
It said, however, that corrections “directed towards ensuring the continued improvement in the quality of education and training and competencies of our seafarers” were underway.
Ched has already ordered the Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering programs of the Philippine Maritime Institute discontinued noting deficiencies that the school had yet to address since 2006.
Source: Sunstar