The EU threat to stop recognising STCW certificates issued by the Philippines could be the equivalent of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown in March – with possible dire consequences for Filipino seafarers and the local crewing sector. So why is the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) report, which gave rise to the threat, being treated as some kind of state secret in Manila? Outside of a limited circle, little was known of the report and the EU plan itself until Marine Café Blog put the whole thing in the glare of daylight (‘Fire alarm at the Filipino seafarer factory‘).
What the local and international media have been getting in the aftermath of our blog post are bits and pieces from the EMSA report. In a word, the morsels instead of the whole plate of meat and potatoes. We can understand why the Maritime Training Council (MTC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) are reluctant to release the full contents of the EMSA report. The findings from the EMSA inspection in 2010, a follow-through of the 2006 audit, confirm what everyone in Manila has known for a long time. The MTC and CHED have done a sloppy job of monitoring seafarer training institutions and enforcing quality standards. The EMSA findings are a slap on their faces.
A cabal of manning and training personalities is privy to the entire EMSA report. But they’re not sharing, and we can understand why. The small clique, which has been influencing the direction of maritime training policies, is using the EMSA findings to fuel its own little agenda – which is to expand the controversial Management Level Course (MLC) for ship officers from the present one week to as long as six months. The revised scheme will mean big money for certain training centres. But it won’t address the continuing deficiencies in the maritime school system uncovered by the EMSA inspectors.
The EU threat can be rightfully seen as a national emergency. The lack of transparency on the EMSA report is no way to deal with the crisis. In fact, it’s a great disservice to the thousands of Filipino seafarers who now face the prospect of being banned from working on board EU-registered ships. Fortunately, time hasn’t blunted our ability to sniff out and get hold of the information. The truth will out. ~Barista Uno
Dear Sir,
You hit it in the middle. They are trying to put the full MLC implementation as the solution to the 2006 findings, 2009 they are silent and here comes 2011 that they will cure the sickness with the wrong medicine.
Their target, make the MLC their money tree !
First there is reason for caution. EMSA is somewhat opaque anyway because its client is the EU. At least that’s its view. It’s not part of an anti-Filipino conspiracy.
The report itself, of which I have a copy, is somewhat weak and given the enormous impact that an EU ban would have on both the shipping and fishing industries in Europe I would be surprised if the relevant EU committee went forward with a ban. The maritime industry simply can’t switch overnight and certainly won’t abandon the million of dollars it has invested in the Philippines.
The hush in the Philippines is probably not un-influenced by measures taken by CHED to unilaterally allow equivalencies related to MLC that are not allowed for under STCW.
In other words, they were not compliant with STCW. If you disagree with STCW then you must complain to the IMO and get it to change the rules.
Until very recently the deputy director of the IMO was a Filipino. He’s the guy to talk to.
EMSA is right not to release the contents of its report. A doctor, after all, doesn’t go around telling everyone what ails his patient. But the CHED and MTC are wrong not to release the report. This goes against public interest and the interest of the Philippines’ maritime sector.
Nobody, least of all Marine Café Blog, has said anything about an anti-Filipino conspiracy. If there’s any conspiracy at all, it’s a conspiracy to withhold the complete EMSA findings from those who need to know because they are parties of interest – meaning, the Filipino maritime community at large. That includes the seafarers, who stand to lose the most if the EU does go ahead with its threat.
There’s no need to dwell here on the specifics of the EMSA findings. Marine Café Blog will come out in due course with a blog post on the subject as it has also got hold of the full EMSA report. For now the intriguing question is why the folks at CHED and MTC are so timorous about sharing the details contained in the document. Are they afraid of getting rapped on the knuckles for snoozing on the job?
Capt. Peter Boucher’s recommendation is one of the best. The various governments and private maritime institutions each have their own interest and are using the EMSA report as a vehicle to make money at the expense of the seafarers; or looking for good excuses so they do not get blamed for the fiascos obtaining for decades.
This of course is a result of a government that has too many fragmented maritime agencies.
I totally agree with Capt Cuanzon. FYI, the boards of deck/engine examiners recently issued a resolution regarding the requirement of MLC (management level curse???) for deck/engine officers. I am really puzzled by this, because this requirement is not even mentioned in STCW 78/95, the Manila amendments and Republic Act No. 8544 (RA8544). Where did this come from and who invented this?
In fairness to MTC and its new administration, it’s been having active partnership with the Industry and consultations with the maritime sector is secured in place… Tripartism is the trend now and MTC is one of the government agencies that respects this idea of public-private partnership.
Though there have been failures in the past.. This EMSA thing is a learning experience for everyone – not to point fingers on who is responsible for what (coz we are all responsible for one thing or another) but to help each other turn this thing around and uplift the Philippine Maritime Industry.
The confidentiality of the EMSA Report is just not a deprivation of information. Some information has to be kept in order not to cause Chaos among the public and the devil’s advocates who, sad to say, are only gonna pick the puzzle apart and make the whole thing more controversial.
This is a trying time for the industry and distrust in our leaders both in the industry (private sector: management and union alike) and the government is not what we need right now. We should encourage everyone to actually do something positive and not go around telling others that this is one heck of a failure again.
People should really stop witch-hunting and start being the solution!
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Ajay