The European Commission may decide this July on the question of banning Filipino seafarers from working on board EU-registered ships. Although it’s down to the wire for Manila, we’re not about to lose sleep over the matter. And it’s not because we believe, like the rest of the local crowd, that Filipino seafarers are indispensable to the world’s shipowners. We have better reasons for not worrying.
1. Neither the Maritime Training Council, the recognised national authority for enforcing the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention, nor the Commission on Higher Education, which supervises the maritime schools, has an in-house maritime expertise to speak of. But both agencies have private individuals comprising their technical working groups or otherwise serving as consultants. Never mind if some of them are associated with commercial training centres. The bright boys will rack their brains and try to fix whatever problems remain – or so we hope.
2. The maritime bureaucrats are rushing to streamline their systems and procedures for a more effective implementation of the STCW standards. Presumably, they’ve been told what else needs to be done by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) inspectors, who were in Manila last March. We also hear that a workshop will be held this week by certain manning groups to develop a standard assessment document. It seems too late in the day for that, but aren’t Filipinos famous for tardiness and doing things at the eleventh hour?
3. If ever it comes to pass, an EU ban could have an upside. In November 2010 the European Commission decided to withdraw recognition of seafarer certificates issued by Georgia. As a consequence, the Georgian President fired his top maritime deputies, including the fellows in charge of Port State Control. The top-to-bottom revamp meant that the country could start anew. A similar ban on Filipino seafarers may not lead to a rebirth, but it could prompt Filipinos to renew their interest in shipbuilding and fleet development. Both areas have gone to rut because of the national obsession with crewing.
In the final analysis, the solution to the whole problem cannot be found in Lisbon or Brussels but in Manila. It lies with the Filipinos themselves. The EU can give the Philippines a thumbs up or it can lower the boom. Either way, the country will have deserved its fate. So why worry? It’s bad for the heart. ~Barista Uno
