President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. vowed that the Philippines will do everything it can to address the long-time unresolved deficiencies in the country's maritime education so as not to put Filipino seafarers at risk of losing their jobs.
Marcos told reporters onboard the PR001 enroute to Belgium that the country will have to comply with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention) in order to be accredited by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
Getting EMSA's accreditation is crucial as the country try to prevent Filipino seafarers in EU-flagged vessels from losing their jobs.
"That's not something you can debate about, you comply. We'll have to comply so that we will be accredited. It is not discretionary," Marcos said, referring to the EMSA.
"I think that we will going to do everything that we can. We cannot leave it hanging like this and this is our last chance so we have to really get it done," he added.
The Philippines has yet to pass the international standards since 2016. But the President said the maritime industry is doing all it can to address the problem, sending assurance that "we'll be alright."
"Everybody in the industry is working very hard for us... because we have 600,000 plus marino (seafarers) all over the world right now so we don't want them to put in a bad place," he said.
"But you have to understand that the accreditation we are trying to get is depended upon us. It's basically a checklist, hindi tayo nakakatupad sa dun sa iba (we are not compliant to the others)," he stressed.
The chief executive also said that he will bring up the matter in his engagements in Brussels during the European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (EU-ASEAN) Business Summit.