The Philippines, as the world’s largest supplier of seafarers, plays an important role in assuring the stability of global logistics, considering that around 80 percent of world trade and commerce is accomplished through sea freight. Filipino seafarers, numbering around 229,000, comprise about 25 percent of all mariners worldwide or the “single biggest nationality bloc in the shipping industry.”
Which government agency plays the lead role in ensuring that the country’s seafarers maintain this reputation and its concomitant measure of capability?
It is the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) headed by Secretary Jaime Bautista.
At last week’s Cabinet meeting, President Marcos ordered the MARINA to address issues concerning maritime education and training, to ensure compliance with global maritime industry requirements.
As stipulated in Republic Act No. 19535 passed by Congress in 2014, the MARINA, created under Presidential Decree 474, is the “single maritime administration mandated to implement and enforce the 1978 Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for seafarers.” As such “it shall carry out an effective regulatory framework conducive to the efficiency, transparency, and competitiveness of the Philippines seafaring industry.”
Eight years after the MARINA assumed this vital responsibility, it is apparent that it still has to effectively overcome the problems previously faced by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in terms of ensuring that maritime schools comply with global standards. The crux of the problem is the inability of these schools, due to under-capitalization, to ensure the conduct of appropriate onboard training. Once this critical item is removed from the school curriculum, MARINA could assume responsibility for ensuring that aspiring seafarers receive full and adequate onboard training, by working closely with ship manning companies.
Previously, countries like Norway, whose vessels are manned principally by Filipino seafarers have extended assistance in setting up state-of-the-art training facilities, including the bridge navigator-simulator that enables students to vicariously experience actual crisis situations faced by ship captains. MARINA must step up its efforts to plug the gaps in maritime education and training by aggressively tapping the resources of private sector organizations that are key stakeholders in the global maritime trade.
It is imperative that while earnest efforts are being undertaken by MARINA, that the regulatory authorities, particularly the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are likewise kept abreast of such initiatives. The Philippines is a member of the IMO Council that functions like an executive committee and sets key governance policies.
Congress, too, could review the regulatory framework and enact new legislation that would enable MARINA to discharge its functions more effectively.
What is at stake is the reputation of Filipinos as the world leader in ship manning and crewing and the lives and well-being of our seafarers’ families. By adopting a whole-of-government approach, the Marcos administration could ensure that Filipinos will not just maintain but strengthen the country’s leadership and competitiveness in this vital niche of the global shipping industry.