The Philippine seafarers’ education, training and certification system has serious deficiencies and failed to meet the requirements that guarantee maritime safety, the European Commission said.

The EU Commission issued the notification following an inspection conducted in 2020 to determine the Philippines compliance with the requirements of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Convention.

“The European Commission notified the Philippines of a number of deficiencies, including serious ones, identified in the Philippine seafarers’ education, training and certification system, which fails to guarantee that the requirements of the STCW Convention are met,” said a statement by the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines on the Philippines’ STCW System.

Philippine authorities received the European Commission notification in the second half of December 2021. Under the applicable rules, the Philippines has to provide its formal reply to the European Commission within two months, and not later than 10 March 2022,”the EU Commission said..

The full notification and details of the report are not public and cannot be disclosed to any party, but only to the Philippine government. However, the EU Manila Delegation said that “inconsistencies have been identified in relation to the competences covered by the education and training programs leading to the issuing of officers’ certificates, as well as in several approved programs regarding teaching and examination methods, facilities and equipment.”

Inconsistencies have also been identified in the monitoring of inspections and evaluations of the schools. In addition, there have been concerning findings as regards simulators and on-board training.

It added the European Commission is committed to continue to work in partnership with the Philippines to address the STCW.

“Maritime safety is of utmost importance for the EU, in particular the seafarers’ education and training,” the statement added.

The European Commission, with the assistance of the European Maritime Safety Agency, will assess the reply of the Philippines and will determine a course of action.

In case of a negative assessment, the European Union might eventually withdraw the recognition of the Philippines STCW system and, therefore, the certificates for masters and officers delivered by the Philippine maritime schools.

In that case, existing certificates for masters and officers would continue to be recognized until the time of their natural expiry, but new certificates would not be recognized to work on EU flagged ships.

Nonetheless, EU said they are aware of the significant contribution of seafarers to the Filipino economy noting that Filipino seafarers are also equally important to EU since about one out of five foreign seafarers on EU flagged ships is Filipino.

“The European Commission therefore sincerely hopes that, by March 10th, the Philippines will have conducted the necessary internal reforms and amendments to comply fully with the STCW requirements,” the statement added.

On February 8, 2022, a delegation led by Vice-Admiral Robert Arugay Empedrad, the head of the Philippine Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and Henrik Hololei, Director-General and other officials of the of the European Commission Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) met in Brussels.

The meeting, which took place at the request of the Philippine side, was the opportunity to clarify EU procedures and expectations following the transmission of the notification letter of 20 December 2021 concerning EU reassessment of the maritime education, training and certification system of the Philippines.

EU Ambassador to the Philippines, Luc Véron, who attended the meeting, said Commission explained to the Philippines’ relevant authorities (CHED and MARINA) the procedure to be followed as requested in the notification letter as well as the next steps following the Philippines’ reply.

“While Director-General Hololei was grateful to Vice-Admiral Empedrad for meeting informally in Brussels and for his oral presentation, he made clear that the Commission’s assessment would solely be based on the written reply to the Commission notification, to be provided no later than 10 March 2022. He reiterated that this formal reply should contain concrete evidence of the measures already taken by the Philippine authorities to ensure compliance with the country’s obligations under the STCW Convention,” Veron said earlier.

The Commission provided concrete examples on what it expects to receive in the Philippines reply.

The Commission also encouraged the Philippines to enhance their efforts to comply with the STCW Convention.