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INSTEAD
of asking the Philippine government to make its policies
more industry-friendly, a group of foreign maritime
employers said that it would focus on expanding its
domestic cadet training program.
In an
interview last week, Michael J. Estaniel, a board member
of the International Maritime Employers Committee (Imec)
said that the group will no longer undertake lobbying
efforts with government, leaving the task to local
crewing groups.
“It
[lobbying efforts] will not be our job anymore, but Fame
[Filipino Association of Mariners’ Employment] should be
the one to do the job,” Estaniel said, adding that the
group will put more efforts on Imec’s training program.
Imec,
which has 116 member companies that manage more than
6,380 ships in over 40 different countries, said in late
2006 that it seeks to increase its involvement in the
Philippines by meeting with various government agencies
and other stakeholders to discuss policies and issues
facing Filipino seafarers.
Among
its concerns include the delays incurred by seafarers
upon securing government documentation, the quality of
their education for the past years, and “frivolous”
suits filed by some seafarers against their employers.
Last
year, the group discovered that local organizations such
as Fame, the Philippine Association of Manning Agencies
and Ship Managers Inc., among others, are lobbying for
the same issues that Imec wants resolved.
“We have
a lot of people raising the flag and complaining. Let’s
look at another thing to help,” Estaniel earlier
said.“[Imec] would like to recommend, but the problem is
you already have too many organizations doing that and
the recommendations are the same things that we want.”
Early
this year, the group appointed Indian national Cedric
D’Souza to be its training manager for the said program,
indicating the shift in Imec’s strategy in solving the
shortage of officers worldwide.
The
group has began to scour hundreds of Philippine
secondary schools to get the best and brightest students
to try-out for a scholarship grant and take the
seafarers’ course.
Imec
will only accept 50 nautical or marine engineering
students who will all be housed at the
University of
Cebu
starting June for the next three years.
Earlier,
D’Souza said that if its Philippine training program
works out well, the group would copy its strategy in
other countries
Imec’s
officials claim that the estimated 10,000 to 15,000
officers’ shortage between now and 2015 may have already
increased since many brand-new vessels have been built.
Filipino
officers currently comprise 17 percent of Imec’s total
workforce or about 10,323, followed by the Russians at
16 percent or 9,448, and other European nations at 12
percent or 6,994. |
