|
THE
Philippines’ shipping regulator seeks to end the
collusion between foreign shipping companies and
domestic maritime training centers which have taken
advantage of Filipino sailors desperate to get work
onboard oceangoing vessels.
An
official of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
said that a number of vessel operators are in cahoots
with some local sailor training centers since these
shipping lines only accept training certificates that
came from their “accredited centers.”
The
government and crewing agencies have to put their acts
together because “these people are trying to exploit the
seafarers,” according to Vicente T. Suazo, Marina
administrator.
As a
result, seafarers who already took their training
courses in other centers will be required to take the
same course again at the “accredited” institutions.
Suazo
said these practices place a dent on the Philippines’
ability to provide more seafarers in light of the high
demand for crew members owing to the rapid vessel
expansion of shipping operators.
However,
he admitted that
Marina’s
powers are limited since regulating training centers are
subsumed under the Department of Labor and Employment
through its Maritime Training Council.
The
Marina official said he can only do so much since the
agency only has supervisory powers over
Marina-accredited training centers.
Suazo
added that the collusion was an offshoot of the
establishment of fly-by-night training centers in the
provinces which intends to attract desperate sailors who
want to work onboard foreign vessels.
Currently, no government agency can sanction training
centers as a whole since it can only regulate the
courses that they offer, which in turn should comply
with the International Maritime Organization’s Standard
of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for
Seafarers 1978 Convention.
While
the MTC, established in May 1984, only accredits
maritime institutions—a function it shares with the
Marina—the
council has no power to close or sanction them.
The
council is composed of the Labor Secretary as chairman
and the heads of the Commission on Higher Education,
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas
Workers Welfare Administration, Professional Regulation
Commission, Philippine Coast Guard, Marina, and the
private sector representatives from the employers and
seafarers sectors. |
