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A group
of former ship captains and an association of manning
agencies have supported the proposal of the Department
of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to either
abolish the Maritime Training Council (MTC) or pare down
its powers in handling seafarers.
In a
position paper sent to President Macapagal-Arroyo
lasmonth, the two said MTC should only coordinate
policies among its members and not perform the duties of
other agencies.
DOTC Undersecretary Ma.
Elena Bautista
MTC is
an ad-hoc body under the Department of Labor and
Employment.
“This
[proposal] will avoid confusion in seafarer
certification process and provide a netter system of
accountability,” the groups led by the members of PMI
(Philippine Maritime Institute) Alumni Association and
of the Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies wrote in
their letter to the President.
“We are
concerned that MTC and its sub-office, the National
Assessment Center, complicate the certification process
of our ship officers and deprive them of hassle-free
employment,” they said. “We find MTC as the central
generator of confusing directives that led to
overlapping, if not encroaching, of functions among
council members.”
The
Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), on the other hand,
must perform the central authority in certification,
they also told the President, the groups said.
MTC,
which draws its P35-million annual budget from the
Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), was
created on May 1, 1984 pursuant to a presidential
director issued by the late President Ferdinand E.
Marcos.
The
directive was intended mainly to implement the
International Maritime Organization’s Standards of
Training, Certification, and Watch keeping for
Seafarers.
The
council is composed of the Labor Secretary as chairman.
Its members are the heads of the Commission on Higher
Education, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA), OWWA, Marina, Professional Regulation
Commission, Philippine Coast Guard and Department of
Foreign Affairs. The employers and seafarers are also
represented in the council.
In
February, DOTC Undersecretary Maria Elena H.
Bautista proposed to the Department of Labor and
Employement (DOLE) the abolition of MTC, which mainly
accredits hundreds of training centers for seafarers
nationwide. She also proposed Marina to act as the
central maritime administrator. “In a rationalized
situation, an ad hoc agency such as the MTC should not
be there. There’s no need for a coordinative body doing
technical functions when you can strengthen the focus of
each agency,” Bautista said in an earlier interview.
Bautista
also suggested that MTC be replaced by a steering
committee that will be based at the DOTC.
The
council, according to Bautista, will also be composed by
MTC’s present members, except POEA and OWWA, which
should be replaced by National Maritime Polytechnic and
state-owned Philippine Merchant Marine Academy.
DOLE,
however, has rejected the DOTC initiatives, saying that
the Labor department is recognized worldwide as the lead
agency in regulating the placements of all overseas
Filipino workers, seafarers included.
“A shift
of the Philippine government’s focus from the status quo
by giving the lead to another agency without substantial
reasons may raise questions about the directions of the
government’s contract migration policies,” said Arturo
D. Brion, then DOLE secretary who was recently appointed
to the Supreme Court by the President, told DOTC in a
letter.
DOLE
said that Marina has no direct jurisdiction over
seafarers on board foreign-flagged vessels since, as
regulator, its mandate is to determine the seaworthiness
of foreign-flagged vessels when these are docked at
Philippine ports. |
