... another round at milking?

EDITORIAL

To stay in the list

THE year 2001 can witness a make or break test for the Filipino seafarers ability to keep their leadership in the world maritime labor front.

How the Philippines can keep itself in the much coveted White List is not in the hands of the International Maritime Organization anymore but in our government.

We dare say that it is the burden of government – and not of anybody else – to see to it that the country stays in the List.

Government ought to remember that one thing that kept the IMO from mechanically stamping the seal of approval on the Philippine application was the glaring multiplicity of government agencies claiming to be sole authority with regard to the competency certification of seafarers. Once and for all, government must rid its inconsistent legal provisions, its seemingly junk midnight executive orders, and its helpless search for the happy middle ground for warring agencies claiming for themselves the income derived from certification fees, together with the vested interests, nincompoops, and criminals responsible for these.

Leaders of government must acquire the hallmark of inefficiency and the icon of state contempt for genuine public service. It must act decisively to follow the intent of the IMO-STCW 1995 Convention.

Part and parcel of Philippine compliance with the requirements for inclusion in the White List is the set of training requirements for seafarers. It will not be enough that those with capital and/or are able to secure financing for the acquisition of expensive and more high-tech training equipment have shown the way to go in matters of ensuring that seafarers keep abreast with the latest knowledge requirement.

It will be even more important to show that the Maritime Training Council is able to advance its tasks in relation to qualification of participants in the training of seafarers, especially as they concern those imposed by the IMO. If qualified assessors stay away from the MTC because of uncompetitive and undeserved compensation and the MTC, as a consequence, defaults on its duties, then we can say that we picked the picks and shovels to dig our professional graves for all the world to see.

What we’d love to see is how the Commission on Higher Education rises to the occasion to see to it that only duly qualified and equipped maritime schools get to graduate well-trained students. With that, students will not only get their money’s worth but also the respect of the maritime community. Such can help the country maintain its share in the supply of seafarers in world shipping and consequently, their incomes can help prop up the economy that is continuously bedevilled by crisis after crisis.

And speaking of crisis, Filipino seafarers will get much needed help if the present political leadership crisis were resolved in a manner that decency, morality, and accountability be restored in the highest offices of the land.

While Pinoy marine officers can predictably keep up to family expectations, the mass of their unlicensed counterparts, many of who receive far below ILO wages, stand to lose even more. It is in their greater behalf that government must behave as expected and do what ought to be done. Now. 

EDITORIAL:
To stay on the list

SOUNDING LEAD:
Palompon, a history of survival
Capt. Reynold M. Sabay

CHRIST AT SEA:
I, a Christian leader, on board? Why not!
Fr. Savino Bernardi, C.S.

THE LAW OF SEAFARERS:
Validity of quitclaims and releases
Atty. LeonardoVinz O. Ignacio

PUNTO DE VISTA
Honoring the country's modern-day heroes
Paul S. Esber

You can now join or start any discussion on seafarer's issues anytime or anywhere you are with
Usapang Marino
(Seafarer's Forum)
at URL: http://www.ufs.ph/discus