Business Mirror | Senate bill seeks to keep Filipino seafarers out of EU blacklist

• 
• 

Details

 

Category: Economy

17 Dec 2013

 

Written by Mia M. Gonzalez

Filipino Merchant Seafarers

Senate President Franklin Drilon on Tuesday called for the speedy passage of a bill that would help prevent Filipino seafarers from being blacklisted in the European Union (EU).

Drilon made the call in his sponsorship speech on Senate Bill (SB) 2043, which seeks to transfer to the Maritime Industry Authority’s (Marina) functions on the training and certification of an estimated 400,000 Filipino seafarers.

The senator said SB 2043, which would help the country comply with the 2010 Manila Amendments to the 1978 International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers, and prevent its seafarers from the EU blacklist.

“Our seafarers face an imminent threat that, if not addressed urgently, will in all likelihood capsize our maritime industry,” he warned.

He said the EU recently expressed its “inclination” to blacklist Filipino seafarers from EU-flagged vessels because of the Philippines’s “unsatisfactory and incomplete observance” of the STCW Convention, which sets the global minimum qualifications for masters, officers and watch personnel in international shipping.

The proposed bill seeks to prevent an EU blacklist by introducing “the needed structural changes to our maritime regulatory system in order to address the inefficiencies in the current scheme and ensure our country’s complete compliance with the STCW Convention.”

Under SB 2043, seafarers would no longer have to undergo training and securing certification from various government agencies directly involved in the implementation of the STCW Convention, by consolidating the STCW functions in Marina.

Marina exercises oversight and supervision over these agencies, which include the Professional Regulation Commission, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Health and the National Telecommunications Commission.

“Marina has expressed its readiness to assume these functions. The various stakeholders from the government and seafaring industry have also conveyed their support for the immediate passage of this bill,” he said.

Drilon cited the urgency of passing the measure, since the European Maritime Safety Agency is still preparing its audit report on the country, and “will continue to welcome inputs from our side until the end of January 2014 before the audit report’s publication.”

“The swift passage of this will certainly translate to a significant boost in our country’s chances at positively influencing the outcome of the report,” Drilon said.