TNM 108 - United Filipino Seafarers United Filipino Seafarers

Transcription

WANTED!!! Former TNM managing editor Robert Rey Gambe
Vol. XIX
page
44
No. 8 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2014 http://www.unitedfilipinoseafarers.com.ph PHP 25.00
Solons seek
probe of
MARINA’s
FAILURE
to collect
oil pollution
fund from
oil tankers
Story on P 24
Cong. Neri Colmenares
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SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2014
TINIG NG MARINO
3
Number of compliant local ships surging
PH marks 1st year of MLC 2006
with robust compliance
by Kidon Alcober
A
mid the floundering of Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), one shining beacon which
the labor department has begun the
ardous task of determining compliance of domestic ships to the internationally recognized Maritime
Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006.
As early as September, the
labor agency has so far issued a
clean bill of health to 40 domestic
vessels owned by 15 local
domestic shipping companies.
And the number is
swelling with the very handson approach of the country’s
labor chief.
The certificates of
compliance (CoCs) were issued by the National Capital
Region office of the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE)
under the new Labor Laws Compliance System (LLCS), which is
the instrument tool to the MLC of
2006. The country is a signatory to
such maritime labor treaty.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz nevertheless noted that
their work is still half-way through
even as she called on domestic
shipping operators to comply with
the MLC of 2006 voluntarily.
“This is the first time in
the history of Philippine labor that
the DOLE covers domestic ships.
I encourage companies of Philip-
pine-registered ships plying domestic waters to voluntarily comply with all labor laws. It is good
economics, and it is good business
to voluntarily comply with our labor laws that provides for the welfare and protection to Filipino seafarers,” Baldoz said.
She nevertheless said at
least 60,000 Filipino seafarers could
soon look forward to safer sea trav-
el after her agency has completed its assessment.
Baldoz said at least 17
Philippine domestic ship
operators have applied for
the issuance of certificate of
compliance. Of the 17 ship
operators, 15 have already
been issued a compliance
certification.
Minimum working, living standards
The MLC of 2006 establishes minimum working and living standards for all seafarers working on
ships flying the flags of ratifying
countries.
It’s also an essential step
forward in ensuring a level-playing
field for countries and shipowners
who, until now, have paid the price
of being undercut by those who
operate substandard ships.
Widely known as the “seafarers’ bill of rights,” the MLC of
2006 was adopted by government,
employers and workers representa-
tives at a special ILO International Labour Conference in February 2006.
It is unique in that
it aims both to achieve
decent work for seafarers
and to secure economic interests through fair
competition for quality
ship owners.
Country-signatories
to
such ILO convention like the Philippines are obligated to ensure decent and safe working conditions
for seafarers with the following
standards or benchmarks:
• Minimum age
• Seafarers’ employment agreements
• Hours of work or rest
• Payment of wages
• Paid annual leave
• Repatriation at the end of contract
• Onboard medical care
• The use of licensed private recruitment and placement services
• Accommodation, food and catering
• Health and safety protection and
accident prevention and,
• Seafarers’ complaint handling
The industry-wide inspection being carried out by DOLE is an
integral part of the country’s compliance process to the convention.
The DOLE’s work is still a
long way to go before the country
could boast 100 percent compliance.
For 2014, the DOLE targets to assess 783 local vessels with
gross tonnage (GRT) of 500 and
above for joint assessment under
the LLCS.
Based on a list of the MARINA, there are 8,451 domestic
vessels with Philippine registry as
of 2012, of which 6,785 have gross
tonnage below 200 GRT; 883 with
gross tonnage of between 200-499
GRT; and 783 vessels with GRT of
500 and above.
“Now, we are beginning
to enforce its (MLC) provisions to
provide our seafarers decent work,”
Baldoz said.
“Hopefully this will minimize sea accidents,” she added.
The country is buffeted with sea
mishaps year after year, posting in
the process a dismal record in sea
safety and crew competence.
The full compliance to MLC of
2006 would help douse doubts
on the country’s ability to float
sea-worthy ships manned by competent seafarers.
continued on page 15
4
TINIG NG MARINO
EDITORIAL
MLC of 2006:
Preserving the
well-being of
seafarers
T
he country’s accession to ILO’s
Maritime Labor Convention
(MLC) of 2006 turned one year old
last August.
As signatory, the country
is obligated to adhere to minimum
standards of working and living conditions for its seafarers to ensure a safe
and healthy working environment.
Simply put, the treaty mandates all signatories to make sure
that seafarers are treated humanely
and decently while working on high
seas and away from their families.
Widely known as the “seafarers’ bill of rights,” the MLC of
2006 was adopted by government,
employer and workers representatives at a special ILO International Labour Conference in February 2006.
The maritime treaty is
considered unique since it aims to
achieve decent work for seafarers
and to secure economic interests
through fair competition for quality
ship owners.
As part of its compliance,
the labor department has begun
a series of inspection on domestic vessels to check if these floating
workplaces conform to basic working and living standards set forth by
the MLC, 2006 treaty.
DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has been overseeing the
inspection with vigor and has, on
some occasions, boarded personally
the subject vessels to witness their
progress of compliance.
Baldoz said their inspection
work would ensure the safety and
health of thousands of seafarers currently employed by local ship operators.
To date, the labor agency
has already issued a “clean bill of
health” to at least 40 domestic vessels belonging to 15 local shipping
companies.
The number is expected to
swell in the coming months.
For 2014, the DOLE targets
to assess 783 local vessels.
Based on a list of the MARINA, there are 8,451 domestic
vessels with Philippine registry as
of 2012.
Baldoz is nevertheless appealing to ship companies which
have yet to apply for inspection to
come to the fold voluntarily and
help speed up the process.
The labor chief argues that
“it is good economics and good
business” for ships and their owners
to voluntarily comply.
In a country where shipping companies act like spoiled
brats, the gentle appeal of the labor
chief might fall on deaf ears.
Local ship operators have
a tendency to compromise the
continued on page 9
SHIPPING ISSUE
CAPT. JAIME D. QUIÑONES
General Manager
Wallem Maritime Services Inc.
THE NEED FOR COHERENT POLICY
IN MARITIME TRAINING
T
he demand for Filipino seafarers is
expected to fall marginally due to the
increasing requirements for a highly competent workforce at sea. Given the current
fast evolving technologies, equipment, and
maritime legislations directly affecting the
conventional norms of ship operations and
the level of desired shipboard quality management skills. It is therefore high time,
that Filipino seafarers must rise from these
challenges, which can best be achieved
through proper training and changing the
mindset about training – from the typical “certificate driven” attitude to “needs
driven” thinking and the appreciation and
acceptance of training as a vital tool in the
acquisition of desired competence and
Seeking
Solutions to
Changing
Demands in
Shipping
professional development.
Attendance and completion of all
STCW mandatory courses in conjunction
to the 2010 Manila Amendments is now
imperative, with additional premium on
value added training courses or recommendatory courses being offered by inhouse and external training centers. Given the diversity of training centers, the
government (MARINA) must streamline
the number of accredited training programs and ensure that all approved training programs shall be specific to the scope
and requirement for STCW compliance
Nelson P. Ramirez Executive Editor
Arianne Ramirez Managing Editor
James S. Mante Assistant Editors
Myrna F. Virtudazo
JF A. Balbaguio Layout
Paolo Ranillo artists
Denis Ramillo Cartoonists
Amado Baul
Rey Sto. Domingo Production Staff
Fr. James Kolin New York Bureau
Engr. Samson Tormis Greece Bureau
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Philip RamirezSingapore
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Capt. Arturo Cañoza Japan Bureau
Sapalo Velez Bundang & Bulilan Law Offices
Legal Consultants
Tinig ng Marino (Voice of the Seafarer) is published by the United Filipino Seafarers, a duly registered Philippine maritime union. Editorial office: 4th/F Room 402, Gedisco Terraces Bldg., 1148 Roxas
Blvd., Ermita, Manila, Philippines; Telephone nos.: (632) 524-4888;
525-5806; Fax (632) 524-2336; E-mail: ufs_07@yahoo.com;
Website: http://www.unitedfilipinoseafarers.com.ph. Materials published in this paper may be reprinted provided proper acknowledgment to Tinig ng Marino and the author, if indicated, is made.
TINIG NG MARINO
5
UGONG NG MAKINA AT IKOT NG ELISE
ENGR. NELSON P. RAMIREZ
Most Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer, PRC, 1996
Most Outstanding Student, ZNSAT, 1970
Outstanding Achiever of the Year,
Province of Zomboanga del Norte, 2006
“
Earn dollars, see the world for free
and have a girl in every port.”
This is the phrase that maritime schools often use as come-on,
either as a blatant offer or as a subtle
hint, particularly on collecting girlfriends, to lure unsuspecting students.
Little do they know that this
catching phase has wrecked a thousand dreams.
(1) ON THE SUPPLY and
DEMAND IMBALANCE: The Philippines is producing 20 thousand
maritime graduates a year and the
industry can absorb only three to
five thousand.
(2) INABILITY OF THE
GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY TO
TAKE CONCRETE STEPS: There are
almost 100 schools offering maritime
courses. Most of these schools cannot
pass the international standards and
had been committing moral ‘estafa’
for years in the pretext of giving education. The sad news, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED),
which is in charge of monitoring
these schools, has been sleeping on its
job. The CHED itself has NO EFFECTIVE MONITORING SYSTEM and
this is the very reason why schools
offering maritime courses sprouted
all over the country. These schools do
not have EFFECTIVE MONITORING SYSTEM and QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION as well as what the EMSA
assessors found out when they conducted an assessment here.
(3) SHIPPING COMPANIES SHOWING NO RESPECT
FOR FRESH GRADUATES: There
is an exception to the rule. If you are
a graduate of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA),
Maritime Academy of Asia and the
Pacific (MAAP), NYK-TDG Maritime Academy, DMMA, and the
University of Cebu; and if you are
scholars of John B. Lacson and of
Southwestern University in Cebu
Fake Promises and
Broken Dreams
and the likes, you are well respected. You are even given free education and even allowances. But if you
came from a sub-standard school
and could even hardly read and
speak English, expect no respect
from the employers. The Visayan
Maritime Academy, the Mariners
Polytechnic and the Malayan College of Laguna have their own manning agency where they will send
their cadets for apprenticeship.
(4) UNWILLINGNESS/INABILITY TO ENTER A DIFFERENT
MARKET: Not very true One of the
reasons why most of our young boys
took this course is that they would like
to imitate their neighbors or relatives
who were once idiots in the barrio
but have become successful seamen
and now own a very nice house and
car. They believed that any idiot in the
barrio can become a seaman and earn
dollars. They were told by their parents
to take this course because there is no
chance for them to become lawyers
or doctors since they are stupid. They
best thing for them to do is to take
BSMT nor BSMarE and earn dollars.
(5)
IMPROPER/INADEQUATE TRAINING: It is a fact that
there has been a huge lapse in the
quality of deck and engine cadets
and that poor quality cadets come
from sub-standard schools. This is
expected. Most of the graduates from
sub-standard schools rely on their relatives and friends who will bargain
for their employment like a “buy one,
take one” merchandise. Officers know
that the seafaring industry has a shortage of qualified officers. They will bar-
gain for their relative if the manning
agency wants to hire their services. On
the other hand, sub-standards schools
don’t care where their students will go
after spending three years in school.
They have paid for their tuition, anyway. However, if the student is successful in looking for a shipping
company that will take him for his
apprenticeship, his school will charge
him for a ONE-YEAR tuition and matriculation fees; otherwise he will not
get his diploma. This is what we call
highway robbery in broad daylight.
MARINA is now the SINGLE
MARITIME ADMINISTRATION
that can make a drastic change in the
rotten education and training system. TINIG NG MARINO is waiting
in this corner for the outcome of the
EMSA audit this coming October.
6
TINIG NG MARINO
The Dawning of the age of Drone Ships
by Atty. Elviro “Jun” C. Perez II
T
he continuing quest of the maritime industry for a fuel efficient
and emission compliant vessel has
resulted in an apparent shift towards
“turn-key” operations or automated
navigational systems. Recent developments on the use of unmanned
vessels or drone ships are pushing
the limits of our imagination.
The concept of drone ships
is a logical spin-off from the successful results of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs used by the military in
modern warfare and meteorological
science. While the outlook appears
bright for ship manufacturers and
vessel operators, the future does not
augur well for seafarers. The crew
members stand to become its first
casualties in the race to automate
the maritime industry. An estimated
1.2 million jobs depend heavily on
the shipping industry. It is not difficult to contemplate the tremendous
hardships that maritime workers face
in their struggle against redundancy caused by computers taking over
their jobs.
Among the other obstacles
which stand in its path are international maritime legislations which
strictly regulates the minimum crew
numbers of a vessel. Replacing the
crew members of a vessel in favor of
computers is a sign of over-reliance
on technology. If technology fails,
the industry could still rely on the
age-old skills of our seafarers. These
contentious issues may push back
the calendar according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The ICS represents 80 percent of the
estimated 100,000 ships that traverse
the Earth’s oceans.
The negative repercussions
of seafarers losing their jobs are not
the only danger presented by crewless drone ships. Piracy will continue
to haunt vessels despite the advent of
autonomous ships. According to the
International Maritime Bureau Piracy
Reporting Centre, from January to May
2014, there were 72 reported piracy
incidents globally. It’s easy to imagine
this number climbing with a proliferation of unmanned ships. While these
autonomous vessels carry no crew that
could serve as human hostages, pirates
are likely to see these ships as easy targets. Computers cannot offer the same
vigilance that a crew who stands guard
for pirates Unmanned ships will never
deter pirates.
Aside from piracy, the natural hazards of the ocean somehow tilt
the balance in favor of fully-manned
vessels. While an autonomous vessel
can monitor oil pressure, and automatically shut-down the engine when
alarm levels start ringing, these failsafe mechanisms pale in comparison
to the physical efforts exerted by a
crew member on-board the vessel. If
a cooling pipe bursts in the middle
of the voyage, the autonomous vessel
will go as far as reporting the incident
and initiate remedial measures, but if
sea water starts flooding the engine
lube area, only a competent crew onboard can save the day.
Maritime transport in the
European Union (EU) are now facing
challenges brought about by significant increases in transport volumes,
growing environmental requirements
and a shortage of competent seafarers in the future. These autonomous
ships are paving the way towards a
cost-efficient business model that will
overcome these challenges. It allows
for more efficient and competitive
ship operation and increases the environmental performance of vessels.
Furthermore the shore based approach offers “seafaring” the possibility to become more socially sustainable by reducing the time seafarers
spend away from their families.
Proponents of autonomous
vessels or drone ships are lauding
the development of a “turn-key navigational system” called e-navigation
which they hope to launch in the next
10 years. This system shall automate
the current vessel traffic management
systems where for example, a ship is
close to shore, the local coast guard
tells the crew what it should be doing. Although the system is still in
the drawing board, its developers are
mindful of the objections from those
who believe that ultimate control and
accountability for a ship should remain with the captain and crew.
In a bid to jump the gun on
its rivals, Rolls Royce Holdings introduced their patented designs for
drone cargo ships which it claims to be
TINIG NG MARINO
7
8
TINIG NG MARINO
WORKERS’ VANGUARD
CONG. EMMELINE Y. AGLIPAY
Representative, DIWA Partylist
Congress of the Philippines
aglipay.ey@congress.gov.ph
The Call for Urgent Solution to
the Real Problem
U
rgent need can call for solutions
that are expedient, and not ideal, but it should never reach the point
where the “solution” ceases to help
resolve the problem at all. If the cure
is worse than the disease, then it cannot rightly be called a cure.
I have frequently used this
column to express my opinion of
the dire need for a single maritime
authority in this country. I’ve spoken about House Bill No. 3766,
which has now become Republic
Act No. 10635, which in fact does
just that -- establishes the Maritime
Industry Authority (MARINA) as
the single maritime administration
responsible for the implementation
and enforcement of international
agreements or covenants related to
the 1978 International Convention
on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers
(STCW).
Is this a triumph? Of
course. The passage of the law was
an important and necessary step in
our mission to improve our per-
formance in the next audit of the
European Maritime Safety Agency
(EMSA), the results of which will
have a major impact on the livelihoods of our seafaring workforce.
As you’ll recall, one of the main
concerns of the EMSA was the lack
of a central body that would regulate compliance with international
standards in matters such as the certification of seafarers and their education and training.
However the passage of
the law is not enough to allay con-
cerns, nor is it enough by itself, in
practice, to constitute the MARINA
as the sole maritime authority. The
next step is the passage of the Implementing Rules and Regulations
of RA No. 10635. The law requires
that these rules be issued within six
months of the effectivity of RA No.
10635, a deadline which is fast approaching (or may have passed by
the time this article is published).
On June 5, a public consultation
was held with the private sector, an
event which was documented in the
last issue of Tinig Marino, a meeting
which proved somewhat problematic. In an article by Joana Chrystal
Michelle Ventura, the public consultation was castigated for having
fallen short of being a “true” consultation, with participants leaving the
short meeting with the impression
that their concerns and opinions
had been given short shrift.
Putting aside for the moment the circumstances where the
MARINA was allegedly required to
fast track the creation of the Rules,
as well as any allegations of bad faith
between the government and private organizations, I believe it is imperative that the public consultation
for the drafting of the Rules should
be rigorous, comprehensive, and
clearly and explicitly aboveboard.
A literal implementation of
a “public consultation” -- by which
I mean, a meeting with certain representatives of the public -- is not
by itself enough to be considered a
true consultation. For instance, in
the case of the Boracay Foundation
vs. Aklan (G.R. No. 196870) the Supreme Court held the consultations
that took place to be insufficient, stating that: “[h]ad they been conducted
continued on next page
TINIG NG MARINO
9
from page 4
EDITORIAL
well-being of their crew at the expense of profit and survival.
Sometimes, in order
to maximize profit, ship firms
would settle for mediocrity than
competence.
Because for them, a worldclass and happy crew means more
cost and a marginalized margin.
A recitation of ship tragedies involving human error would
introduce you to a crew suffering
from inhuman working conditions.
But local ship operators are
increasingly pressured to comply
because the maritime status quo
that they used to know and manipulate has changed a lot over the years.
Competition has become
intense that the only means of survival is to go global in practice and
thinking and be at par with the rest
of the shipping world.
Because at the end of the
day, whether ships are powered by
modern engines or could circumnavigate the world in a speed of
light, the thing that would always
matter is the people – the ship’s
crew.
Take out the seafarers
and you will have a floating armada of vessels that don’t have a
warm-blooded, breathing ‘cargo.’
The country is, therefore,
clearly in the right direction in overseeing vigorous compliance to MLC
of 2006.
......................................................
properly, the prior public consultation
should have considered the ecological or environmental concerns of the
stakeholders and studied measures
alternative to the project, to avoid or
minimize adverse environmental impact or damage.” Consultations, to be
considered as such, should consider
the concerns of the stakeholders, subject them to serious study, and allow
for the possibility of changes to the
drafts presented. It is not clear that
this has been the case in the drafting
of the Rules of RA No. 10635, and if
this is not rectified, suspicion and
mistrust will characterize the adoption of these Rules and MARINA,
even before MARINA takes on its role
as the single maritime authority.
The fact that the relationship between MARINA and seafaring groups has been fractious cannot be ignored. Some complaints
that have been raised before are
those regarding delays in the issuance of Seafarers’ Identification and
Record Books, registration of motorized bancas, and the long queues
for application of Certificate of Proficiency, followed by long waiting
period for the issuance of said Certificate. But even with those concerns, I’ve argued that the MARINA
is “the existing government agency
best positioned under law to take on
the mantle of the single maritime
administration” and I still believe
this to be the case. But the MARINA
must do its part to conduct itself in
a manner befitting the single maritime administration, must strive to
come to a good working relationship with seafarer groups, or else it
cannot truly safeguard the interests
of seafarers, and may end up doing
more harm than good.
Yes, the new EMSA inspection is fast approaching. Yes, it
is crucial that we do better than in
previous audits. But a haphazard,
slap-dash drafting of the Implementing Rules, one which creates
Rules which are not reflective of the
wishes of seafarers or responsive to
their concerns, will further undermine our situation, not improve it.
As I write this, there is still time to
convene, to discuss, to find reasonable common ground. The Rules
need not be passed merely to reach
the deadline, when they can instead
play an important role in improving our monitoring of the industry
and compliance with international
standards.
The concerns of seafarers
are of the utmost importance and
should be treated with rigor and
gravity. No corner should be cut,
no procedure ignored. It’s one of the
reasons that my bill for the Magna
Carta for Seafarers has stayed so
long in the House -- while speed is
important, it’s more important to
get things right. Seafarers deserve
no less.
10
TINIG NG MARINO
The Unholy AllIANCE
UFS to Congress: Expedite passage of
Anti-Ambulance Chasing Bill
by Carlo Castro
The United Filipino Seafarers (UFS)
has called on legislators to act on
the swift passage of a measure that
prohibits the abusive practice of
ambulance chasing and punish individuals involved in such coercive
conduct in claiming for compensation and disability benefits, particularly involving seafarers.
UFS president Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez said unless a law that
declares the act of ambulance chasing illegal and punishes individuals involved is passed, the number
of bogus seafarer claims will continue unabated and the long list of
foreign-based principals providing
employment to Filipino seafarers
that already transferred to other
countries to recruit other nationalities in the light of the sham claims
will go on.
“There are many ambulance chasers pestering the maritime industry and we have seen an
increase in number over the years
that is why several shipowners have
already transferred to other countries. The government should put a
stop to their abusive practices and
punish individuals involved in such
scheme,” Ramirez said, adding that
licenses of lawyers who were found
to have coerced claimants to file
questionable compensation claims
against shipping companies should
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be revoked, as in the case in Washington, United States.
Mr. Ramirez said leaders
from the Senate and the House of
Representatives should include the
bill in their legislative priority to
pass immediately as this is crucial to
establishing a fair justice system.
A year ago, Angkla Party-list Rep. Jesulito Manalo filed
House Bill (HB) No. 2643 or the
Anti-Ambulance Chasing Act that
seeks to amend Presidential Decree No. 442 or the Labor Code of
the Philippines in a bid to provide
protection to seafarers and other
workers and their families against
unscrupulous individuals. The
House measure was co-authored by
AKO-BICOL party-list Reps. Christopher Co and Rodel Batocabe and
Cagayan de Oro (2nd district) Rep.
Rufus Rodriguez and was referred
to the House Committee on Labor
and Employment.
“Tales of Filipino seafarers
and other workers suffering or dying from work-related accidents are
innumerable. As these occur, distressing stories abound of seafarers
and workers, who were convinced,
after being pursued by lawyers or
their representatives, into entering
agreements for legal or consultancy services even when such services are not needed, or charged with
fees which are excessive and unconscionable,” Rep. Manalo wrote in filing his bill.
He said that this practice
has led to ambulance chasers “taking substantial interest and control
in the case and resorting to questionable practices just to protect and
recover their fees at the expense of
the hapless seafarer of worker and
his family” and the compensation
due to the seafarer or worker is significantly reduced.
The bill’s author also said
that while the Code of Professional
Responsibility of Lawyers prohibits
ambulance chasing, no statutory
provision exists which directly and
expressly prohibits the abominable
practice in the enforcement of labor
rights.
Under HB 2643, the immoral, deceitful and exploitative
practice of ambulance chasing shall
be prohibited. No agent, attorney or
other person in charge of the preparation, filing or pursuing any claim
for compensation or benefits arising
from employer-employee relationship shall demand or charge for services. Any fee and any stipulation to
the contrary shall be null and void.
The retention or deduction of any
amount from any compensation or
benefit granted to the worker for the
payment of fees for such services is
prohibited.
The proposed legislation
also provides that any lawyer who
appears as counsel in any case heard
by the National Labor Relations
Commission (NLRC) or any labor
arbiter shall be entitled to attorney’s
fees not exceeding 10 percent of the
compensation or benefits awarded
by the Commission or any labor arbiter, which fees shall not be payable before the actual payment of the
compensation or benefits.
Punishment ranges from
P50,000 to P100,000 or jail time of
not less than one year but not more
than two years, or both at the court’s
discretion.
However, the House committee chaired by Davao City (1st
district) Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles
has yet to act on the measure and
conduct a public hearing on the bill
that has national significance. In the
Senate, no counterpart measure has
been filed yet.
“Ambulance chasing lawyers in the maritime industry live
off other people’s misfortunes. People who instigate this kind of illegal
activity just care about their own
pockets,” added Mr. Ramirez who
continued on next page
is constantly pushing for reforms in
the maritime industry.
Local manning agencies
and their principals continue to experience harrowing ordeals from
ambulance chasing lawyers and
their seafarer-clients, sometimes in
connivance with labor arbiters who
should make it their responsibility to determine whether disability
claims and cases lodged before them
are factual in nature, Mr. Ramirez
narrated. Many shipowners prefer
to settle the claims rather than go
through the arduous practice of appealing, he said, but they decided
to transfer to other countries with a
heavy heart knowing that they have
settled unmeritorious and dishonest
claims.
Remittances keep the economy afloat and play a big role in domestic consumption which drives
economic growth. Remittances
from overseas Filipino workers
reached $2.27 billion in June this
year, according to data from the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Money
sent home by land-based Filipino
workers went from 4.8 percent to
$8.7 billion in the six-month period, while those wired by sea-based
workers jumped from 8.8 percent to
$2.7 billion. Inflows of cash remittances and the number of sea-based
workers from the Philippines—
dubbed the manning capital of the
world in the maritime industry—
could also be affected if this highly
questionable act is not stopped.
According to an article
published on the website of the
Baltic and International Maritime
TINIG NG MARINO
Council, the largest international
shipping association representing
shipowners that controls around
65 percent of the world’s tonnage
with membership in more than 120
countries, shipowners were owed
more than $6 million as of September 2013 by claimants and their lawyers in 98 cases where earlier decisions by the NLRC had either been
overturned or reduced an appeal.
The article added that many shipowners have signified their appeal
11
to the Philippine government to reform the legal system as currently,
shipping firms are forced to pay out
to meet questionable compensation
claims for injury and illness even
before they have a chance to appeal
the awards against them ordered by
the lower courts.
The shipowners’ chances of
getting even a fifth of the amounts
involved seem slim. “In three other cases where the awards totalled
$178,000, only $19,700 has been
recovered,” the article said, noting
that claimants who have succeeded in the lower courts tend to have
spent most, if not all, of the money,
and much of it have already been
paid to the ambulance chasers, before higher courts hear any appeals
in a process that can take as long as
seven years.
In the United States, for
example, ambulance chasing is declared as barratry and punishable in
the states of California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Texas while some jurisdictions disbar
any lawyer involved from practicing
within that state.
12
TINIG NG MARINO
SAILOR’S CORNER
ATTY. AUGUSTO R. BUNDANG
Head, Litigation and Seafarers Department
Sapalo Velez Bundang and Bulilan Law Offices
Authority of the
Voluntary Arbitrator
W
ho has jurisdiction over a
case involving the interpretation or implementation of the
collective bargaining agreement:
the labor arbiter or the voluntary
arbitrator?
The recent case of “Estate
of Nelson R. Dulay represented by
his wife Merridy Jane P. Dulay vs.
Aboitiz Jebsen Maritime, Inc. &
General Charterers, Inc.” (G.R. No.
172642) decided by the Supreme
Court on June 13, 2012 answered
the above question by holding that
the voluntary arbitrator should take
cognizance of such an issue.
In the said Dulay case, a
veteran seafarer, after completion of
his employment contract, and while
still a bona fide member of a union
which was the collective bargaining
agent of his employer, died of acute
renal failure secondary to septicemia. The widow claimed for death
benefi ts through the grievance procedure of the collective bargaining
agreement (CBA) between the seafarer’s union and his employer but
the procedure was declared deadlocked. Pursuant to a provision in
the CBA, the widow then filed a
claim against the employer for death
and medical benefi ts and damages
amounting to US$90,000.00 before
the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC)-Arbitration Board.
A few days later, the deceased seafarer’s brother received P20,000.00
from the employer pursuant to a different and separate provision of the
same CBA and released the union
from further liability. The employer
insisted that the NLRC has no jurisdiction over the widow’s claim due
to the absence of an employer-employee relationship at the time of the
seafarer’s death and the fact that the
seafarer’s contract was already completed prior to his demise. The labor
arbiter and the NLRC both recognized the claim and ruled in favor
of the widow, ordering the claims
arising out of an employer-employee relationship or by virtue of any
employer to pay.
On appeal, the
Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the decision of the
NLRC and referred the
claim to the National Conciliation and Mediation
Board (NCMB) for the
designation of the voluntary arbitrator or constitution of a panel of voluntary
arbitrators for appropriate
resolution on the applicable
CBA provision to be applied
insofar as death benefits due
to the heirs of the seafarer
are concerned.
The Supreme Court
affirmed the CA ruling,
finding that Republic Act
(RA) No. 8042, the special law governing overseas
Filipino workers, does not
provide for any provision
regarding jurisdiction over
disputes or unresolved
grievances on the interpretation or implementation
of a CBA. Section 10 of
RA 8042 simply speaks in
general of law or contract
involving Filipino workers
for overseas deployment
including claims for actual, moral,
exemplary and other forms of damages. On the other hand, Articles
217 (c) and 261 of the Labor Code,
a general statute, are clear and particular in expressing that voluntary
arbitrators have jurisdiction over
cases arising from the interpretation or implementation of CBAs. As
such, the specific or special provisions of the Labor Code govern and
not those of RA 8042.
The High Court, upon review of the CBA which the seafarer’s
widow considers to be the law between the parties, likewise concluded that the parties really intended to
bring to conciliation or voluntary
arbitration any dispute or conflict in
the interpretation or application of
the provisions of their CBA.
It noted that Section 7 of the
Omnibus Rules and Regulations, as
amended by RA 10022, promulgated by the Department of Labor
and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs, which implement RA 8042, so provides that
for overseas Filipino workers with
CBAs, the case shall be submitted
for voluntary arbitration following
Articles 261 and 262 of the Labor
Code. Such is the same idea invoked
in Section 29 of the POEA Standard
Employment contract.
The Court made it clear
that with respect to disputes involving claims of Filipino seafarers
where the parties are covered by a
CBA, the dispute or claim should
be submitted to the jurisdiction of a
voluntary arbitrator or panel of arbitrators. In the absence of a CBA,
the parties may opt to submit the
dispute to either to the NLRC or to
voluntary arbitration.
This position is consistent
with the policy of the state and Section 3, Article 13 of the Constitution
to promote voluntary arbitration as
a mode of settling labor disputes.
TINIG NG MARINO
Panama and Nicaragua Canal
13
( The Battle of David and Goliath )
by Engr. Rainero B. Morgia, MScEnv
I
t used to be the only connecting
route through a ship canal between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic
Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea). This
is known as the famous Panama
Canal. Since it started operations
almost 100 years ago, the canal
continues to serve and enjoy great
success among the shipping industry’s trade route (Panama History).
Despite having enjoyed this privileged position for so many years,
with the advent of globalization,
the continuing build-up of very
large capacity ships and vessels, the
increasing volume of carrying cargo on imports and exports, high
maintenance cost, and the rising
canal tolls as the ships become
larger, Panama Canal is now facing
competition with the construction
of NICARAGUA CANAL, popularly or better known as the David
and Goliath competition between
ship’s canal toll business.
Obviously the NICARAGUAN is the Goliath, what critics
dare or call as a dream vs. reality
project (IHS Maritime).
THE HISTORICAL CANAL
This is a 77-mile ship canal that connects Atlantic and the
Pacific Ocean and has been a key
channel for international maritime
trade since its official opening on
August 15, 1904 (Panama History).
The canal has locks at each end to
lift ships up to the Gatun Lake, an
artificial lake constructed to lessen the amount of excavation work
required for the canal, 26 meters
above sea level. The current locks
are 33.5 meters. A third, wider lane of locks is presently under
construction to open in 2015.
According to “Historical Map and
Chart Project- NOAA”, the layout of
the canal as seen by a ship passing
from the Atlantic to the Pacific is
as follows:
•From the formal marking line of
the Atlantic Entrance, one enters
Limon Bay, a large natural harbor.
The entrance runs 8.7 km. It
provides a deepwater port (Cristobal), with facilities like multimodal
cargo exchange (to and from train)
and the Colon Free Trade Zone, a
free port.
•A 3.2- km channel forms the approach to the locks from the Atlantic side.
•The Gatun Locks, a three-stage
flight of locks 1.9 km long, lifts
ships to the Gatun Lake level, some
26.5 m above sea level.
•Gatun Lake, an artificial lake
formed by the building of the Gatun Dam, carries vessels 24.2 km
across the isthmus. It is the summit canal stretch, fed by the Gatun
river and emptied by basic lock
operations.
•From the lake, the Chagres River,
a natural waterway enhanced by
the damning og Gatun lake, runs
about 8.5 km. Here the upper Chagres river feeds the high level canal
stretch.
•The Culebra Cut slices 12.6 km
through the mountain ridge, crosses the continental divide and pass-
es under the Centennial Bridge.
•The single-stage Pedro Miguel
Lock, which is 1.4 km long, is
the first part of the descent lift of
9.5 meters.
•The artificial Miraflores Lake, 1.7
km long, and 16.5 m above sea
level.
•The two-stage Miraflores locks, is
1.7 km long, with a total descent
of 16.5 m at mid-tide.
•From the Miraflores locks one
reaches Balboa harbor, again with
multimodal exchange provision
(here the railways meets the shipping route again). Nearby is Panama City.
•From thid harbor an entrance /
exit channel leads to the Pacific
Ocean (Gulf of Panama), 13.2 km
from the Miraflores locks, passing
under the Bridges of the Americas.
Thus, the total length of
the canal is 77.1 km. This is Panama Canal.
The canal is currently handling more vessel traffic than had
ever been envisioned by its builders. In 1934 it was estimated that
the maximum capacity would be
around 80 million tons per year
(Gerstle, 1944 ). To date, according
to the Panama Canal Authority, canal traffic reached almost 350 million tons of shipping.
It continues to serve more
than 144 vessels of the world’s trade
routes and the majority of canal
traffic comes from the “all-water
route” from Asia to the US East and
Gulf Coasts via the Panama Canal.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
As demand is rising for
efficient global shipping of goods,
the canal is positioned to be a significant feature of world shipping
for the foreseeable future. However,
changes in shipping patterns —particularly the increasing numbers of
larger-than-Panamax ships will necessitate changes to the canal if it is
to retain a significant market share.
“An enlargement scheme
similar to the 1939 Third Lock
Scheme, to allow for a greater number of transits and the ability to
handle larger ships, has been under
consideration for some time. This
has been approved by the government of Panama, and is in progress,
with completion expected in 2014”
(Panama Canal Authority, 2010).
The Third Lock Project cost is estimated at US$ 5.25 billion. And the
project will double the canal’s capacity, allowing more traffic and the
passage of longer and wider ships.
The project is designed to allow for
an anticipated growth in traffic from
280 million tons in 2005 to nearly
520 million tons in 2025.
The expanded canal will
have a maximum sustainable capacity of about 600 million tons
per year. Tolls will continue to be
calculated based on vessel tonnage,
and will not depend on the locks
used. The new locks are expected
14
TINIG NG MARINO
More seafarers have no access to shore leaves;
Flag states and shipowners violating MLC 2006
by Joana Chrystal Ventura
D
espite the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) stipulations for seafarers’ access to shore
leaves, the 2014 Seafarer Shore Leave
Survey conducted by the Seaman’s
Church Institute (SCI) reveals that the
number of seafarers being denied this
much-needed respite has actually increased. The SCI’s Center for Seafarers’
Rights reported that the overwhelming
cause for shore leave denial was due to
lack of visas, which should have been
provided by the shipowners to every
member of their crew as mandated in
Standard A1.4 Section 5(b) of the MLC,
2006. It is well-documented that shore
leaves have a significant positive effect
on the safe and efficient operation of a
vessel; thus, the SCI’s findings have implications which go beyond missed opportunities for rest and recreation.
The SCI’s Center for Seafarer
Rights collected data during the week
of May 18-24, 2014. Within this period, port ministries in 27 US ports
visited a total of 416 vessels with approximately 9,184 crewmembers onboard. The crew represents roughly 60
nationalities including Filipinos, Chinese, Ukrainians, Russians, Indians,
and Burmese. Of the 416 vessels surveyed, 97 vessels (or 23.3percent) had
at least one seafarer onboard who had
been denied shore leave, compared to
the 2013 figure of only 17.8 percent.
Meanwhile, of the 9,184 seafarers included in the survey, 1,030 of them
were denied shore leave, roughly 11.2
percent for 2014 compared to the 2013
figure of 9.1percent. The chief reason
for shore leave denials is the lack of US
visas (86 percent), followed by terminal restrictions (7 percent), vessel operations (7 percent) and restrictions by
the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (less than 1 percent). Another interesting finding in the SCI’s 2014 survey was that in reports which indicated
the seafarers’ nationalities, more than
49 percent of those denied shore leave
due to lack of visas were Filipinos. This
is hardly surprising as the Philippines
remains the world’s biggest source of
maritime workers.
The SCI has been conducting these annual surveys for the past
13 years. This is the first year that the
survey has been conducted after the
MLC, 2006 has been implemented
in 37 countries. Seventy-nine percent of seafarers who were denied
shore leave for lack of visa are crew
members on ships registered in
countries where the MLC, 2006 is in
force: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cyprus, Greece, Liberia, Malta,
Marshall Islands, Panama, the Philippines and Singapore. The disappointing results, therefore, are even
more serious because they provide
evidence that these flag states are not
verifying shipowner compliance before issuing Maritime Labour Certificates.
Shore leaves are crucial to
seafarers’ health and well-being—
two critical factors which impact
performance and safety at sea —
which is why it is actually in the best
interest of shipowners and maritime
officials to ensure that crew members
have access to some downtime when
their vessels are in port. Yet, it can
seem like shore leaves are becoming
undeservedly difficult to enjoy, even
for some seafarers who are fortunate
enough to obtain visas in countries
where they are docked.
For one thing, gaining access
to areas outside the port can be an expensive and time-consuming process.
Often, a seafarer must pay a private
company for escorted transport from
the docked vessel to the shore and
then back. Seafarer welfare organizations like the SCI do provide this service without charge but not all ports
have seafarer welfare organization
presence. And sometimes, terminal
operators will actually restrict the organizations’ access to docked vessels,
citing security reasons.
There were also some seafarers who were not able to go ashore because of the brief time that their vessels spent in port. When combined
with the various operational requirements that can only be performed
when docked plus the myriad of paperwork that needs to be completed,
there is simply not enough time to
take care of duties and still have time
www.marineinsight.com
Reason for denying Seafarers for Shoreleave
Source: The Seaman’s Church Institute Center for Seafarers’ Rights 2014 Shore Leave Survey
Nationalities denied by Shore leave
Source: The Seaman’s Church Institute Center for Seafarers’ Rights 2014 Shore Leave Survey
TINIG NG MARINO
15
from page 3
Number of compliant local ships
surging
PH marks 1st year of
MLC 2006 with....
Inspection continues
Baldoz said the inspection
will cover the 8,981 Philippine registered ships in domestic shipping except warships, naval auxiliaries, government ships, and fishing vessels.
DOLE and its partner organizations have earlier prioritized
the two-phase evaluation of Philippine-registered ships (PRS), which
travel in international waters.
“We are almost over with the
overseas (ships). We are now focusing on domestic ships,” Baldoz said.
Baldoz said 140 PRS have
presented the necessary MLC requirements and have been issued
with the Declaration of Maritime Labor Compliance (DMLC) by DOLE
for the first part of the evaluation.
She said another 96 PRS
have completed the assessment and
received their Maritime Labor Certificate (MLC).
Baldoz said the 40 domestic vessels were awarded CoC at the
program celebrating the first year
of the entry into force of the MLC
of 2006.
“Ensuring compliance with
all labor laws, including with safety
and health standards, are pursuant
to our obligations under the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, and
national issuances, such as D.O.
No. 129, or the “Rules and Regulations Governing the Employment
and Working Conditions of Seafarers Onboard Ships Engaged in Domestic Shipping, and the new LLCS,”
said Baldoz in her message beamed
from Claver, Surigao del Norte, via
the social app, Facetime, to the audience in the program at the AMOSUP
in Intramuros, Manila.
The 15 shipping companies
issued the CoC were as follows: (1)
Buenos Aires Lighterage, Inc. (with
one vessel); (2) Christie Transport,
Inc. (one vessel); (3) F.I.C. Marketing Co., Inc. (four vessels); (4) Herma Shipping And Transport Corp.
(eight vessels); (5) International
Tankers Corp. (one vessel); (6) Islands Integrated Offshore Services, Inc. (six vessels); (7) Loadstar
Shipping Co., Inc. (two vessels); (8)
Moreta Shipping Lines Inc. (two
vessels); (9) Ocean Bees Inc. (four
vessels); (10) Petrotrade Phils.,
Inc. (four vessels); (11) Recto Cifra
Agro-Industrial Inc. (one vessel);
(12) Resins Incorporated (one vessel); (13) Sealoader Shipping Corporation (two vessels); (14) Siment
Transport, Inc. (one vessel); and
(15) Swordfish Marine Services
Corporation (two vessels).
Two domestic shipping
companies, the Therma Mobile,
Inc., with four vessels; and Phil.
Ecology Systems Corp., with two
vessels, or a total of six vessels,
have also been issued CoC for their
ships but they were not present
during the awarding rites.
Of the 40 vessels issued
their respective CoC, only two are
registered in the Port of Cebu. The
rest are registered in the Port of
Manila.
The CoCs were issued to
the vessels after the conduct of a
joint assessment, one of the mechanisms that the DOLE uses under
the LLCS.
During the process, management and worker representatives sit down with the DOLE to
assess compliance, with the latter
informing the former about the
various labor laws, including the
safety and health standard regulations, that the shipping company
ought to comply.
If deficiencies or gaps in
compliance are discovered during
the assessment, a plan of action is
formulated to correct the gaps or
deficiencies.
The DOLE teaches the
company and the workers on how
to comply. After the gaps or deficiencies are effected, the DOLE issues a CoC to the company.
The labor chief has empha-
sized the seriousness of the DOLE
in accelerating implementation
of the new LLCS by going around
the country’s regions observing the
joint assessment of establishments
conducted by the DOLE regional
offices.
“Voluntary
compliance
fosters harmonious workplace relations and is generally good for
business. It leads to productivity
and profitability,” she stressed.
“With these developments,
we are on track in the implementation of the MLC 2006, the vital instrument which affords protection
to approximately 368,158 overseas
Filipino seafarers,” she added.
The MLC of 2006 requires
the 61 International Labor Organization (ILO) member states, which
include the Philippines, to comply
with the stipulated “comprehensive
welfare and protection” for seafarers
worldwide.
As the country’s fate before the European Union’s EMSA
hangs in the balance, the initial
robust compliance to MLC of
2006 should somehow improve
the country’s image as a maritime
player that supplies one third of
the global fleet.
16
TINIG NG MARINO
VAST HORIZON
C/ENGR. RODOLFO B. VIRTUDAZO
Outstanding Seafarer of the Year, NSD, 1998
Most Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer, PRC, 1999
Technical Superintendent ABACUS Ship Management Limited
E
ver since I learned from a doctor-friend that coffee is good
for the body, foremost of which
is its being antioxidant, I have become a coffee lover. In fact, I buy
a sample or two from countries
that I have been to. I get to enjoy
its rich aroma in my cabin because
I see to it that I bring my own little coffee maker wherever I go. It
is securely packed in my suitcase
among my layers of clothes that
serve as a cushion especially for
its delicate glass pot.
I love to have a sip of hot
brewed coffee in my cabin and enjoy its sweet and rich aroma in-between encoding tons of reports and
plans for the engine department.
For whatever substance it may
have, coffee has some sort of potential element that stirs the fecund
mind and seemingly stretches my
capacity to be prolific and poetic
amidst the technical writing that I
usually deal with.
Decades ago, coffee had
been labeled “unhealthy.” But now,
it is touted as a super food. It was
found to be loaded with antioxidants and caffeine that have health
and, hold your breath, anti-aging
benefits. Antioxidants help the
body repair cells caused by free
radicals (which are produced as a
byproduct of cells just doing their
daily thing). Caffeine on the other
hand, has been shown to help improve a range of symptoms and reduce the risk of chronic illnesses.
I have scoured the Internet
and different studies and trusted
links say that coffee can help in
the prevention and treatment of
diseases and illnesses: Alzheimer’s
disease, diabetes, liver disease, skin
cancer, cirrhosis, Parkinson’s Dis-
Nothing tastes better than a
brewed coffee
ease, colon cancer, and many more.
It can even relieve headache and
asthma probably because of caffeine. And believe it or not, it has
anti-bacterial and anti-adhesive
properties that may help in cavity
protection.
As Brillat-Savarin has observed, “Coffee sets the blood in
motion and stimulates the muscles;
it accelerates the digestive processes, chases away sleep, and gives us
the capacity to engage a little longer
in the exercise of our intellects.”
Brillat-Savarin owns the famous
saying, “Tell me what you eat, and
I will tell you what you are” which
we are all very familiar with.
From mere “black coffee,”
or “coffee with sugar and cream,” I
have expanded my literacy regarding the kinds of coffee drinks, i.e.,
“Americano, a shot in the dark, café
au lait, caffe latte, café breva, café
machiatto, cappuccino, double or
double shot, and dry cappuccino.”
During my technical inspection on board MV JEAN LD,
one of our ports of call was England. Of course, it was a good
chance to go buy some English
coffee and so I thought. Look
what I got: Douwe Egberts & Simon Levelt ground coffee rich
roast (strength 4) – the perfect
after dinner coffee inspired by the
Italian tradition for rich, full-bodied and luxurious blends.
H’mm… another bag of
coffee read: “For those who are
looking to create a little piece of
Italian style at home, our Espresso
is the ideal blend. The luxurious,
smooth, chocolaty flavor makes a
deliciously rich and powerful espresso or you can just add frothed
milk for a creamy cappuccino or
latte. And so Espresso ground
coffee dark roast (Strength 5) was
added also in my cart.
Where does the best coffee
in the world come from? According to the World Coffee Review,
“The coffee from Brazil is world
famous for a good reason—it is
nothing short of stellar. None more
so than the Brazil Bourbon Santos.
Brazil is the world’s largest coffee
bean producer.
America - Though not
grown in the U.S. there are several blends that have a distinctive
American style. Made to be enjoyed with a traditional breakfast,
they complement rather than compete with the feast. These brews are
from a blend of medium roasted,
medium ground Colombian and
Central American coffee beans.
Smooth, light on the acid and delicate bodied, they will complement
rather than call attention to themselves. Steep & Brew offers a clean,
fruity option, as does the Madrugada blend from Flying Goat. The
Supreme Bean offers a sweet, chocolaty blend that will be perfect with
morning pancakes.
Ethiopia - Legendary
home of the Arabica tree, which
produces the berry that contains
the coffee bean, Ethiopia is making
strides in producing a fine brew.
The Coffee Klatch from the Yirgacheffe region is a dark, dark coffee with fruit overtones for those
who enjoy a bold brew. The Counter Culture of the Sidamo region
is a dry processed bean that will
invariably make samplers think of
its sun drenched home. For those
seeking a delicate espresso, the
Belle Espresso from Coffee Klatch
may be just the right thing. A blend
from five different regions, the profile is complex and entrancing.
Nicaragua - The Madriz
from this Central American small
but mighty powerhouse of coffee
producers, will be a welcome addition to the table. Hailing from
Terroir Coffee, its pungent bouquet
and full body will have you asking
for a second cup.
Panama - A small roaster in Portland, Oregon has shown
us how to find the best of Panama.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters offers
a bean from the Don Pachi Estate
that will be perfect in a French
press. From the Geisha trees of the
Boquete region, this flowered and
fruity brew is lightly acidic and
goes down smooth.
Hawaii - The JavaBerry
Black Estate Reserve is all the excuse you need to visit this Pacific
island. From a blend of Kona Peaberry and Kona Extra Fancy, it offers a smooth, full-flavored balance.
This one is for those who love their
coffee straight.
Sumatra - Indonesian coffee is not for everybody. Now more
expensive, it often has a tartness that
some find off putting. But coffee aficionados could do no better than
the Organic Sumatra Reserve. With
hints of chocolate, this medium bodied brew is sweeter than average.
Fruity overtones with a thick aroma
give it that South Pacific character that makes one think of tropical
isles and cool breeze rather than the
steamy jungles of its home.
Having come home from
my ship visit in The Netherlands with
some bags of coffee in tow, I realized
that nothing tastes better than a coffee brewed right in our own breakfast
nook.
18
TINIG NG MARINO
PISOBILITIES
FRANCISCO J. COLAYCO
Chairman, Colayco Foundation for Education
Entrepreneur, Venture Developer and Financial Advisor
Pagbabalik sa pagka-OFW
S
i Ginoong HA ay sumulat sa akin:
Hihingi lang po sana ako ng advice para maging guide ko next year.
Dati akong seaman at nanilbihan
ako sa barko sa loob ng limang taon.
Tatlumpung taon na ako ngayon at
limang taon na akong single. Napansin ko sa mga pasahero namin
na tuwing holiday o kahit birthday
lang ay kasama nila ang pamilya nila.
Doon ay nakita ko ang isang bagay
na wala ako. Ang makasama ang
aking pamilya. Napansin ko din na
karamihan ng aming mga pasahero
ay may sariling negosyo. Isa po sa
mga pasahero namin ay nakausap
ko at sinabi niya sa akin na “working
for your self is priceless.” Sa puntong
iyon ay nagdesisyon ako na huminto
sa pagtatrabaho sa barko para subukan ang aking swerte sa Pilipinas
sa pamamagitan ng pagsisimula ng
sarili kong negosyo.
Nagsimula po ako ng isang
negosyo na may malaking pag-asa na
kaya kong palaguin ang konting puhunan na limang taon kong inipon sa
barko. Pumasok ako sa trading and
retailing ng basic commodity (“panluto”). Sa unang taon ay nagawa kong
kumita nang katamtaman pero sa sumunod na taon ay halos nawala ‘yung
mga customer ko. Doon ko nakita
na sa ganitong klase ng negosyo ay
walang “customer loyalty.” Kung sino
ang may mas mababang presyo ay
doon sila, kahit na maganda ang pakikisama mo sa kanila. Kadalasan, ang
transaksyon dito ay second endorsement check ang binabayad. Mahigpit
pong itinuro ng aking tiyo na huwag
akong papasok sa ganoong transaksyon para makaiwas at hindi maipit sa
tinatawag na “bridge of no return.”
Dalawang taon na ang nakalipas, wala akong naipon dahil
halos ‘yung kinikita ko sa trading at
retailing ng panluto ay nagagamit
ko sa pang araw-araw na gastusin.
(Base sa libro, dapat hiwalay ang
pera sa negosyo mula sa personal na
pera). Dito ko din nakita na mahirap
sumabay sa malalaking kumpanya
na nagdi-distribute ng panluto dahil kahit pareho kami ng source ay
may mas malaki silang discount na
nakukuha sa planta. Isang advantage
nila ito kung bakit sila ay kadalasang
mas mababa ang price; hindi katulad
ko na umaasa lang sa pagpo-forecast
ng price kung tataas o bababa. Kung
ma-forecast ko ng maganda, dun
lang po ako nakakalamang sa kanila
at nagagawa kong makapag-offer
ng mas mababang presyo, pero hindi ito palagi. Kaya hindi ko pa rin
ma-maintain ang mga customer ko.
Ngayon po, Sir, nag-iisip
ako na bumalik na lang sa barko at at
saka ko na lang babalikan ang pagnenegosyo. Sa barko kaya kong kumita
ng mahigit Php50,000 na hindi ko
magawang kitain sa trading ng panluto. Ang plano ko ay i-secure muna
ang mga basic needs ko tulad ng bahay, emergency funds etc. Ngunit sa
computation ko kung babalik ako sa
barko ay baka mahirapan na akong
tumigil. Iniisip ko pa naman sana
na pagkatapos ng dalawang taon ay
posibleng makapag-asawa na ako, at
magkaroon na ng anak. Dahil dito
ay mas madadagdagan pa ang obligasyon ko. Kaya ang pagnenegosyo
na pinapangarap ko ay mas matatagalan pa. Sir, ang goal ko ay maabot
ang financial freedom sa edad na 40
at maabot ang tagumpay ng aking
negosyo sa edad na 35.
Iniisip ko ring pumasok sa
isa pang negosyo at ilagak ang natitira
kong ipon na Php 1 milyon na lamang.
Ito na lang po ang huli kong ipon.
Plano kong pumasok sa pagsu-suply
ng raw materials para sa mga feed mills
pero base sa research ko, ang halaga ng
dapat na i-supply kada transaksyon
ay aabot sa Php 500,000 kasi bulk po
sila kung mag-order. Kung magawa
ko mang makapag-supply ay may
magiging problema pa rin ako dahil
kadalasan sa feedmills ay 30 days ang
terms. May possibility na yung 30 days
ay ma-extend pa. Kaya ko lamang
pumasok sa isang transaksyon kada
buwan kung susuwertehin at kung
mamalasin ay pwedeng malugi ako at
mabawasan pa ang capital ko.
Sa franchising naman ng
mga small food cart, may posibilidad
na kumita ng Php 1,000 daily net; ang
problema ko lang po ay humanap
ng magandang lokasyon. Kapag kumikita na ang foodcart ay magtatayo
ulit ako ng ilan pa para maabot ko
ang limang iba’t ibang food cart (na
base po sa libro nyo ay mas advisable
na magkaroon ng higit sa isang foodcart) pero bago ko po ito mapalaki ay
kailangan ko pang bumilang ng dalawang taon para maabot ko ang target
income na at least Php80,000 kada
buwan. Maaari din akong mag-fran-
chise ng lotto outlet, kaya nga lang ay
mukhang hindi kikita ang lotto kung
hindi maganda ang puwesto.
Sir, ako po ay naguguluhan
ngayon kaya sumulat ako sa inyo.
Umaasa ako na mabibigyan ninyo
ako ng panahon para tulungang maliwanagan at makita kung ano ang
dapat kong tahakin sa susunod na taon.
Sabi sa akin ng isang pasahero sa
barko, dati lang daw siyang empleyado pero ngayon ay may-ari na siya ng
isa sa mga pinakamalaking construction firm sa Israel. Ang advice niya po
sa akin ay huwag daw akong mahiya
na lumapit, magtanong at humingi
ng advice dahil iyon ang ginawa niya
TINIG NG MARINO
The Never-ending Path to Justice: Families of
MV Princess of the Stars Tragedy File Appeal
19
L
ast August 11, the families of
the victims in the 2008 Princess
of the Stars tragedy filed a motion
for reconsideration (MR) in the Supreme Court (SC). The 32-page MR
petitions SC to overturn its decision
clearing shipowner Edgar S. Go of
any criminal liability for the sinking which caused the death of more
than 300 passengers and hundreds
more missing up until this time.
Representatives from the United
Filipino Seafarers (UFS) were on
hand to lend support and assistance.
The SC Second Division, in
its July 2 ruling, upheld former rulings by the Court of Appeals (CA)
dated March 22, 2013 and January 8,
2014. The SC ruled that Go’s liability
is civil rather than criminal. The SC
explains the basis for their distinction: “The shipowner’s liability for
the death or injuries to passengers
resulting from the negligence of the
ship captain, with or without concurring negligence on the part of the
shipowner, arises from the contract
of carries, hence civil in nature.”
Public Attorney’s Office
(PAO) chief Persida Acosta, as legal
representative for the victim’s families, filed the motion in response
to this decision. The petition stated
their appeal as thus: “The court cannot turn a blind eye on the criminal
liability, under Article 365 of the
Revised Penal Code, of shipowner
who, by his own acts and omissions,
cause significant damage against the
life and property of another—just
because he is a shipowner.
The petitioners state: “The
liability of respondent Go is not
premised on his mere ownership
of Sulpicio Lines Inc., but on his
management and control over SLI’s
vessels and employees.” Go, at the
time of the tragedy, was also the
Vice President for Administration;
the petitioners insist that Go was
fully aware that the vessel Princess
of the Stars was sailing on a course
that brought it squarely within the
danger zone of Typhoon Frank.
The vessel captain, Florendo Marimon, has been squarely
blamed by Sulpicio’s management
for making the fatal error which also
led to his own demise. Despite years
of maritime experience under his
belt, it seems that Morimon made
the foolish — and costly—decision
not to alter the ship’s regular route
as it sailed from Manila to Cebu
even though he initially notified the
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) of an
20
TINIG NG MARINO
Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme:
Who we are,Why we exist and What we do
by Pao Villavicencio
F
rom the time when nearly 80,000
crew members and more than 3,000
ships have been seriously exposed to pirate attacks and armed robbers in 2003
in the South China Sea, Malacca Straits,
and Caribbean, piracy has even more
increased farther off the Somali Coast
into the Indian Ocean.
From 2007 to 2011, pirate activity off Somalia has augmented to 3,322
seafarer hostages out of a total of 3,967
seafarers worldwide.
The extent of piracy over a period of 10 years was the massive concern
and anxiety shared to all seafarers and
families.
Filipino seafarers’ vulnerability on
piracy
For the Philippine government, maritime piracy is a serious issue.
In as much as the Philippines is
the vessel-manning capital of the world,
supplying one-fourth of the total seafarers globally since 1987, there is a high
possibility that Filipino seafarers will be
the first victims of piracy crises at sea.
True enough, about 512 Filipinos had been held for ransom by
Somali pirates since 2008. To date,
there are five Filipino seafarers who are
still held hostage in Somalia from the
369,104 Filipino seafarers deployed in
2011.
Fears and distress of sailing
in high-risk areas, together with a
large number of affected families are
some of the many effects of piracy incidents to the Filipino seafarers. Thus,
the concern for intervention and the
need for appropriate and immediate
humanitarian responses are highly
looked-for.
MPHRP Profile
Given the copious concerns
worldwide, especially in the Philippines
whose seafarers are most vulnerable to
such threat, a charitable, non-political,
not-for-profit organization, the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response
Programme (MPHRP) was established
in late 2010 and formally launched in
September 2011 to fulfill its one aim: “to
assist seafarers and their families with
the humanitarian aspects of a traumatic incident caused by a piracy attack,
armed robbery or being taken hostage.”
MPHRP is a pan-industry alliance of ship owners, managers, manning
agents, insurers, maritime unions, professional and welfare associations (faith
and secular-based agencies) all working
together to address the three phases of
pre, during and post piracy incidents.
MPHRP Programs and Services
In the Philippines, Filipino
seafarers contribute largely to the economic growth of the country and on
world trade. Indispensable enough,
these “unsung heroes” at sea also play
an important part in critical situations
that might occur on board when piracy
takes place, of which appropriate measures are integral to their well-being,
welfare and their families.
MPHRP is solely committed
to provide direct support to our seafarers and their families who are threatened or affected by piracy.
Assisting seafarers BEFORE the crisis
Seafarers Pre-Departure Piracy
Awareness Training
To be able to prepare our seafarers and their vessels in the unlikely
event of a piracy attack, aside from
the latest information on piracy and
armed robbery world-wide that they
should be aware about, this training
covers Best Management Practices (BMP) and the humanitarian response to piracy attack or armed robbery.
Train the Trainers Course
Equipping trainers, this
course is aligned with the Seafarers Pre-Departure Piracy Awareness
course. Only intended for experienced
maritime trainers with knowledge on
IMO guidance, BMP and MPHRP
Good Practice Guides, this seminar is
delivered by MPHRP experts to training institutes and systems in different
parts of the world in assisting and
providing them the necessary information on piracy worldwide to prepare their own trainings for seafarers.
Welfare Responders Course
In dealing and responding
to the welfare of seafarers who fear
piracy or with experience in piracy,
this training will prepare trainers to
deliver a port-based and a community-based training in their respective
regions. To be conducted by MPHRP
trained trainers in ports and in communities, this consists of an awareness-raising event, a basic response
training (a structured workshop
consisting of basic information, case
studies and exercises) and an in-depth
welfare responders training for chaplains and welfare workers in developing their professional skills as welfare
providers for the seafarers.
Assisting seafarer families DURING
the crisis
Reassurance sessions
As soon as pirate-captive seafarers are identified, MPHRP visits their
families at home and gives them the
assurance that the organization is doing its best to get their loved ones safe
back to their country of origin and that
there are also MPHRP counterparts in
certain regions who coordinate for their
immediate release.
Giving comfort, MPHRP regularly calls the family to check on them
and when there is time and opportunity
in visitations, the organization invites and
brings along willing seafarer survivors to
empathize with the family while sharing
their previous encounter and how they
are able to cope with the experience.
Financial aid through MPHRF
In most cases, there are seafarers who are the breadwinners for
their large extended families but once
held captive, these families struggle to
cope with finances. Support will cease
especially when the ship owner will not
provide any financial assistance to them
during captivity.
Same abandonment is experienced by some seafarers who have returned home after being held hostage.
They struggle to get on with their lives
and to find appropriate alternative employment.
In worst situations, there are
widows and families who have never
received anything as there is no insurance cover and some ship owners have
just walked away and let them. A little
financial support for them to recover is
thus needed.
MPHRP, together with its partners in the insurance and maritime industry, has launched MPHRF (Fund) to
provide limited monthly monetary aid to
them in continuing with their children’s
education, medical care and counselling
(for those who are badly traumatized),
travel costs, house rent and even food to
keep them alive (in extreme cases).
Assisting seafarers AFTER the crisis
Coordinating family reunion
In guaranteeing the families
that MPHRP provides moral support to
them, MPHRP coordinates with families and relatives about the release and
repatriation of their loved ones. Together with the families, MPHRP welcomes
the seafarers in the airport and attends
to their needs, if there’s any.
Facilitating debriefing sessions
MPHRP contacts psycho-social providers who will conduct the
debriefing sessions through proper coordination with their manning agencies. While making sure this is done,
MPHRP listens to their stories and empathizes with them
Extending in medical needs
MPHRP reaches out to the
medical needs of the seafarers and even
their families in cases of abandonment
of the manning agency. In circumstances
when the agency provides the assistance,
MPHRP facilitates through extending
transportation allowances to them.
Promoting social justice
MPHRP does not engage in
legal issues and matters. MPHRP acts
in mediating affected seafarers to their
manning agency for the purpose of
clearing any dispute that has to be dealt
orderly and professionally while also
avoiding the involvement of ambulance
chasers.
Teaching financial literacy and livelihood
Teaching financial literacy and
livelihood to the seafarers and families
is an add-on service that MPHRP can
provide. Inasmuch as most of our seafarers find it hard to manage their money
well, stewardship teaching is relevant although this has to be coordinated with
some of our partners in the industry.
Helping in the re-employment after
recovery
To break the notion that piracy survivors are considered, in a sense,
as ‘damaged goods,’ MPHRP facilitates
in their re-employment after they have
TINIG NG MARINO
recovered from their traumatic experience MPHRP believes that they are
worth the money to spend and are important individuals who need the attention and care they deserve as people.
Given that, their dignity, self-esteem
and confidence will then be restored.
Giving the oppressed a reason to celebrate
A celebration gathering
highlights a thanksgiving spirit after
all the hardship and strife on piracy
incidents. MPHRP invites the seafarers and their families in a celebration
meal to make them feel significant
and not abandoned.
Building alliances and information
sharing
As MPHRP becomes known
worldwide, continuous harmonization
and networking with key government
agencies, unions and the maritime industry make the program effective and
efficient to raise awareness among all
seafarers and families.
Such participation and contribution are vital to help MPHRP consistently identify the survivors and families affected by maritime piracy. Their
continuous support will also beneficial
to those who need employment after
their ship owner abandonment and will
21
therefore provide MPHRP the opportunity for after care services.
Capability building
Being a non-governmental organization, capability building entails
continuous growth among the whole
team, together with volunteers, in providing excellent and extra-mile services
to the seafarers and families. Communication enhancement, psycho-social
knowledge and maritime law understanding are some of the examples.
The Programme exists as long
as there are seafarers who need help and
assistance before, during and after piracy incidents, providing them the necessary care and attention they deserve,
not just for their welfare and well-being,
but also for their families.
MPHRP is steered by Dr. Peter M. Swift, chair of the Board of Directors. It is managed by a team of experts in Europe: Roy Paul, programme
director; Hennie la Grange and Toon
Van de Sande, assistant programme directors; and Alex Wallace, programme
manager. It is also staffed and assisted
by Regional Directors in India/South
Asia, Chirag Bahri; in the Philippines/
Southeast Asia, Rancho Villavicencio;
and in Ukraine/CIS & Baltic countries,
Alexander Dimitrevich.
TINIG NG MARINO
Southeast Asia Well-Suited for Small and
Mid-Scale LNG Project Developments
S
23
by Engr. Ryan Anthony R. Mercene, MBA
outheast Asia is one region in the
of size of around .5
world where the resources of natuMMtpa is sensible to
ral gas are bountiful. The Internationavoid unit cost disadal Energy Agency (IEA) identified
vantages. Small scale
Indonesia and Malaysia to be among
LNG chain is price
the top five largest exporters of Liqcompetitive against oil
products. An illustrauefied Natural Gas (LNG) worldwide. Brunei and Myanmar are the
tive cost structure –
other two countries exporting LNG.
covering liquefaction,
The challenge comes in its extraction
shipping and regasifiparticularly the natural gas which is
cation – for such a debelieved to be consumed at approxvelopment and with a
imately 4.98 trillion cubic feet (Tcf).
delivery distance of less
Oil still remains the dominant fuel
than 621 miles (1,000
followed by natural gas accounting
kilometers) to the marto 117.4 million tons of oil equivalent
ket, would amount to
Petronas
in
Malaysia
(MMtoe) of the region’s energy mix
just over $8 per million
three years ago.
The eastern part of the archipelago utilizes gas as a British thermal unit (MMBtu), far below over $20
The locations of gas fields stretch distances main substitute for diesel providing the 808 Mega- MMBtu for liquid fuels.”
far away from the actual demand centers making watts of power generation. Eight small scale LNG LNG poses to be a clean fuel. However,
it difficult to sustain the ever growing domestic terminals are intended to be constructed by 2015.
the development of a large-scale LNG is directly
needs. Certain infrastructures and facilities would John Sattar of the LNG & Natural Gas Con- proportional to an increase in cost for potential
have to be built pertaining to terminals for liquefac- sulting Group, Poten & Partners explained, “South- consumers. The increasing demand for fossil fuel
tion, transmission. Enormous funds are needed for east Asia, especially Indonesia, is ideal for small to has been accelerated further because of the ever
this to become a reality.
mid-scale LNG developments with a capacity of .5-1 growing consumption of energy. Therefore, the
Donggi Senoro LNG plant found in Indo- MMtpa as there is a large, dispersed population and development of small and mid-scale LNG projects
nesia shall commence operations by 2015. The archi- a lack of gas pipeline interconnections. A minimum in Southeast Asia would definitely be feasible.
pelago has three main liquefaction terminals which
are currently operational. They are found in Arun in
Sumatra, Bontang in East Kalimantan and Tangguh
in West Papua. Production reaches a total of 43.9
million tons per annum (MMtpa) capacity.
Finding the ways and means of gas extraction is the concentration of potential business investors. However, the cost is a factor that causes a
major hindrance to this desire. Marcus Lang and
Marc Schier who are both from the Engineering
Division of Linde AG said, “Only a limited number
of national and international oil and gas companies
The Negros Maritime Foundation Inc. celebrated its 20th anniversary last August 4 to August 7,
worldwide have sufficient expertise and financial
2014 with 2,000 guest coming from all over the country.
strength to lead a world-scale LNG development.”
The celebration of frolic and fun and parlor games lasted for one week and culminated on the eve
Numerous countries are now looking
of the birthday celebration of the “Iron Lady” and founder of NMFI, Capt. Edith Vera.
into building and acquiring facilities for Floating
Liquefied Natural Gas (FNLG). According to the
IEA, there is a growing need for the expansion
of transmission infrastructure or LNG liquefaction projects. The main reason is for the gas to
be shipped to terminals where the regasification
takes place.
The Indonesian archipelago is the best potential target in the Southeast Asian region for the
development of the small to mid-scale LNG projects
simply because of its untapped stranded resources of
gas. This runs all the way from Sumatra in the west
extending up to West Papua in the east.
LNG plants and floating storage regasification units (FSRU) in Indonesia make it an ideal candidate for small to mid-scale LNG developments.
NMFI
20th
Year
24
TINIG NG MARINO
Solons seek probe of MARINA’s failure to collect oil
pollution fund from oil tankers despite oil spill incidents
by Rowena B. Bundang, Media Relations Service-PRIB
T
wo lawmakers are calling on the
House Committees on Good
Government and Accountability,
and Transportation to jointly probe
the failure of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to comply
with its mandate to collect and administer the Oil Pollution Compensation Fund from oil tankers despite
the increase of oil spill incidents in
the country.
The inquiry was sought by
Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares
and Carlos Isagani Zarate through
House Resolution 1198, which states
that MARINA is mandated under
Republic Act 9483, otherwise known
as the “Oil Pollution Compensation
Act,” to collect from oil tankers 10
centavos per liter of their cargo as
seed money to an oil pollution fund.
Republic Act 9483 adopts
and implements the provisions of
the 1992 International Convention
on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution
Damage and the 1992 International
Convention on the Establishment of
an International Fund for Compensations for Oil Pollution Damage.
Crafting of RA 9483 was prompted
by the 2006 Guimaras oil spill incident, according to the lawmakers.
Hon. Neri J. Colmenares
said Section 22 of RA 9483 provides
that MARINA is mandated to collect from oil tankers 10 centavos per
liter of their cargo as seed money to
an Oil Pollution Management Fund
(OPMF) to be administered by the
agency.
“Despite the increase of oil
spill incidents since the 2006 Guimaras Disaster, particularly the massive oil spill that has swathed the
town of Estancia in Iloilo, MARINA
has yet to formulate the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for
the OPMF under Section 22 of RA
9483 seven years after the law became effective,” said Colmenares.
Colmenares said MARINA
should also have compromised a
lesser amount of contribution from
oil shippers to ensure there would be
a fund to clean up the oil spill and
provide relief and compensation for
its victims.
“There should have been a
compromise on the amount despite
the disagreement between MARINA
and the oil shippers on the minimum
and maximum value of contributions
and how long they would contribute
to continue the fund since oil shippers
contend the 10-centavo per liter contribution is high,” said Colmenares.
Under the law, the OPMF
shall be used, one, for the immediate
removal and clean up operations of
the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)
in all oil pollution cases, according
to Colmenares.
Secondly, he said the OPMF
shall fund research, enforcement
and monitoring activities of relevant agencies such as the MARINA
and the Philippine Ports Authority
(PPA), and other ports authority of
the Department of Transportation
and Communications (DOTC), Environmental Management Bureau
(EMB) of the Department of Envi-
Philippine Coast Guard cleaning up the massive oil spill in Estancia, Iloilo
ronment
and
Natural
Resources (DENR)
and the Department of Energy
(DOE).
C o l menares
said
90 percent of
Cong. Neri Colmenares
Cong. Carlos Isagani Zarate
the OPMF shall
be maintained annually for the ac- haulers, he explained.
tivities set forth under containment For the succeeding fiscal
and clean-up activities, and that any years, Zarate said the amount of conamounts specifically appropriated tribution shall be jointly determined
for the OPMF under the General by MARINA, other concerned govAppropriations Act (GAA) shall be ernment agencies, and representused exclusively for such activities.
atives from the owners of tankers,
Hon. Carlos Isagani T. Za- barges, tankers haulers, and ship
rateZarate said that under Section hauling oil or petroleum products.
22 of RA 9483, the OPMF shall be In determining the amount of conconstituted from contributions of tribution, he said the purposes for
owners and operators of tankers which the fund was set up shall aland barges hauling oil or petrole- ways be considered.
um products in the country’s water- Zarate said the OPMF shall
ways and cost wise shipping routes. also be constituted from fines imDuring its first year of existence, the posed pursuant to RA 9483, grants,
OPMF shall be constituted by an donations, endowments from variimpost of 10 centavos per liter for ous sources, domestic or foreign, and
every delivery or transshipment of amounts specifically appropriated for
oil made by tanker barges and tanker OPMF under the annual GAA.
from page 14
More seafarers have
no access to...
for recreation. This complaint is consistent with the findings published
last October by the Danish Maritime
Authority (DMA with the support of
InterManager, a ship manager trade
association in Denmark.
It’s not uncommon for certain categories of vessels to stay in
port for merely a few hours. Unlike
general cargo vessels which remain
docked for one week or even longer,
PANAMAX bulk carriers typically
remain only 10 hours in port, while
many container ships will only rest
for three to four hours just to give the
crew enough time to load and unload. There are simply too many tasks
to finish in record time: preparation
and participation in inspections (Port
State Control, flag state control and/
or class inspections, MLC inspections, vetting inspections); paperwork
and mandatory deck watch duties;
completion of port and pre-arrival
documents (crew and passenger lists,
vessel stores, port calls, health declarations, etc.) in addition to any repairs
and maintenance jobs that may be required. Engine personnel, especially,
have no more time to disembark. For
crews manning vessels on so-called
mosquito runs, working round-theclock has become routine.
Sadly, despite legislation and
international treaties that are supposed
to protect the seafarers’ welfare, many
are still working under conditions
that would be considered criminal for
their counterparts. Can you imagine
asking truck drivers to cover back-toback routes for months at a time? How
about asking airline pilots to stay on
their craft for several weeks? Considering the elevated levels of fatigue and
stress that have become the norm rather than the exception for many crew
members, it is rather remarkable that
the maritime industry has managed to
achieve its current standards of safety
and efficiency.
TINIG NG MARINO
27
Cyprus Shipping Propels
Economic Recovery
by Engr. Ryan Anthony R. Mercene, MBA
C
yprus, the beautiful island country
in the eastern part of the Mediterranean marvelously sprang a 5.1 percent
growth in its Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) this year having an additional 2
percentage points to the national output
brought by its maritime industry, particularly the ship-management sector.
It is a well-renowned major shipping
hub and international business center
strategically located at the cross-roads
of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Cyprus obtained 48 percent
revenue generating approximately
EUR 200 million from Germany,
its largest maritime partner in the
maritime industry which occupies
53 percent of the ship management
business in the island country. Crew
management remains to be the preferred service provided to the German ship owners. Eight percent of
the maritime revenues are from Poland, 6 percent from Curacao, 5 percent from Holland, 4 percent from
Singapore, 2 percent from Russia, 2
percent from Norway, and 2 percent
from the Marshall Islands.
The Cypriot maritime industry has 155 major shipping companies owning or managing 2,300
vessels with an output of 50 million gross tons. Cyprus ranks the
third biggest maritime country in
the European Union and the second biggest in ship management in
the world. There are approximately 4,500 people in all services and
55,000 seafarers on cargo as well
as passenger ships globally. Apart
from Germany, Cyprus has other
maritime partners such the Viet-
nam-flagged vessels accounting for
6 percent, 5 percent with Russia, 4
percent with Singapore, 2 percent
with Greece, 2 percent with Liberia,
2 percent with Italy, and 2 percent
with the Netherlands.
At the gala dinner held in the
Presidential Palace in Nicosia this year,
President Nicos Anastasiades stated,
“As the shipping sector constitutes a
crucial part of our economy and one of
the main pillars of growth, there is no
doubt that shipping has played a leading role in our effort for recovery. The
shipping operational and taxation infrastructure in Cyprus and the Cyprus
flag remain intact, fully operational
and very competitive.”
The island country became
a part of the European Union last
May 1, 2004 having an “Open Registry” with the hope of accelerating
the Cyprus vessel registration. It
ranked 10th in the world as far as
gross tonnage is concerned with approximately 1,000 ships exceeding
19 million gross tonnage. Logistic
chain transformation and strategic
alliances between shipping lines and
ports are expected along the way as
new routes are to be opened because
of stiff competition in the industry.
Shipping, tourism, financial services play important roles in its capital
growth as a nation attracting various
investors and property buyers because of its low tax rates.
“In the past five years, ship
management has been the pillar of our
sector’s growth, despite the problems
faced in the international markets in
2012 and 2013, especially in the char-
tering sector with falling rates driving
many shipowners into trouble. Our industry was faced with too many ships
and too few cargoes, which result (sic.)
in many companies and their fleets
being seized by banks. However, this
turned out beneficial for Cyprus as our
expertise in efficient ship management
was an attraction to administrators
who wanted a quick return or safe recovery of their investments and many
turned to ship management companies in Cyprus,” quoted by Cyprus
Shipping Chamber director general
Thomas Kazakos at the International
Shipping Chambers conference hosted
in Limassol this year.
The shipping industry of
Cyprus developed into an international maritime center in 1963. Ship
ownership and the Cyprus flag vessel
registration were encouraged by the
Cyprus government offering incentives. The geographical positioning
of the island paves an excellent hub
for international shipping and the
development of a high standard maritime structure. Its superb international relations have brought some of
the world’s largest international ship
management headquarters giving it a
promising future and enhancing its
reputation as a maritime nation.
Director General Thomas
Kazakos elaborated, “Ship management, in relations to GDP contributions in Cyprus has grown from 3.8
percent more than five years ago to
4.5 percent in late 2012 and 5.1 percent in the second half of 2013. Add
to that at least two percentage points
generated from Cyprus-owned vessels and other earnings for the Department of Merchant Shipping and
our sector’s contribution to GDP is a
steady 7.1 percent.”
Cyprus is indisputably a remarkable country. An island country inhabited primarily by the Greek
Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots has
the oldest water wells in the world.
Uniquely located at the south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, and east
of Greece, it truly is an awesome place
to be because of its excellent maritime
industry, and wide array of services run by well-educated work force,
superb telecommunication network,
organized banking system, modern
infrastructure, and many others. The
high quality of life and low cost of living makes staying in this fascinating
island amazingly splendid.
28
TINIG NG MARINO
from page 4
SHIPPING ISSUE
— NOT OVER and BEYOND such
requirements.
Moreover, all training providers must be adequately monitored to ensure the following but
not limited to:
1.Proper conduct of training includ-
ing methodologies in teaching
2.Training and instructions leading
to acquisition of outcome based
learning
3.Sufficiency of instruction
4.Integrity of assessment and evaluation, and
5.Verification of quality system processes relating to training
Furthermore, close scrutiny
on compliance issues must also be
vigorously pursued such as:
1.Adequate facilities/equipment including their proper maintenance
2.Capability building programs for
Instructors
3.Reliability and conformance to set
standard
4.Holistic monitoring of training
activities and verification of learning outcome
5.Provisions for continual improvement and development, and
6.Conduct of Upgrading and Re-
fresher training
MARKET DOMINATION
We currently enjoy the
moniker of being the “preferential
choice in manning” and we continue to manifest our dominance
in term of numerical presence in
global shipping. Such lofty stature
is a product of our natural flair
for seafaring, our industry, our
dedication and capability to fulfill
shipboard responsibilities aside
from our good grip of the English language. As such, many ship
owners, principals and ship managers have openly expressed their
preference in employing Filipino
seafarers in their tonnages. Henceforth, Filipino seafarers are highly
regarded in international shipping
as one of the finest and passionate
workers at sea.
CHALLENGES IN SHIPPING,
MANNING
Being at the top and sustaining the dominance in seafaring
is a constant challenge that we have
to bear and cohesively address. As
“champions,” we naturally have
“challengers”, in which some are
almost breathing in our necks. Be
it known that many emerging seafaring nations are now vigorously developing their ranks. As we
evolve into the modern shipping
operations, it does require equally modern operators. Technically
advance equipment requires people who are conversant to its functions and operations.
Maritime legislations, rules
and issuances must be complied
and implemented which require
thorough understanding and continual updates. The bottom line is
“WE MUST NEVER SIT IN OUR
PANTS.” We cannot be lackadaisical in our attitude. We cannot
assume or presume that we can
maintain such leadership by being
idle and complacent. More than
ever, let us recognize the clear and
present challenges in our midst by
keeping ourselves attuned to the
needs of the ever changing demands in shipping by honing our
KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, PROFICIENCY, ATTITUDE
and LEADERSHIP.
TINIG NG MARINO
29
“One Team” Culture Breeds at
T
eamwork [teemwurk] a Cooperative or coordinated effort
on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team
or in the interests of a common
cause—that is how dictionary
best describes the word teamwork.
It is the same translation
that PACC Offshore Services Holdings Pte Ltd, or POSH uses as a
strong foundation of their company. One Team is the emblem of
their unity.
“One Team to work as one
body, We, not You and Me, but we
grow as a family, we grow big,” says
J.H. Chan, general manager for
Crewing, when interviewed at the
Traders Hotel Manila, during their
POSH Sea Staff Seminar held on
August 27-29, 2014. It is a yearly
seminar where seafarers and office staff composed of Burmese,
Filipinos, Indonesians, Ukrainian,
Mexican, Indian and Singaporean
merge, crossing barriers of distance, culture and job designation.
The first day of the event
focused on the company policies,
case studies, procurement policies
and guidelines. The second and
third day emphasized on physical
exercises, hand language activity, accountability scale, multiple
choice activity, film clips,aerobics,
logistics preparation, team outdoor
activities, ritual activity, synthesis
and integration and award ceremo-
ny. POSH conducts three seminars
a year in Manila, Philippines and
two seminars in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In keeping One Team,
POSH lays its anchors on developing the “softskills.” Softskills is
synonymous to Emotional Intelligence or the so called EQ. Oxford
Dictionary describes EQ as personal attributes that enable someone
to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. EQ, also
called emotional intelligence quotient, is a measurement of a person’s ability to monitor his or her
emotions, to cope with pressures
and demands, and to control his or
her thoughts and actions. The ability to assess and affect situations
and relationships with other people also plays a role in emotional
intelligence.
“We believe in holistic
training. One can bring it anywhere and use it in any situation,
part of it is self discipline, accountability, responsibility in actions, respect and trust,” Chan said. When
asked about the challenges faced
by the company, the crewing GM
replied, “Risk management is in
our culture. Safety courses are
not only offered to senior officers
but also to the juniors who will be
handed over the tasks soon.”
Chan narrated that when
he assumed post in 2006 as GM for
Crewing, there were only 70 crew
members , now rising to 600.
He said that the supply of the Filipino seafarers so far is good. They
are supporting the training of cadets in Manila, Cebu and Cagayan
De Oro cadetship program for selected deck and engine graduates,
bring them onboard and sponsor
their certificates.
POSH was incorporated
as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Pacific Carriers Limited in 2006 to
diversify into the offshore oil & gas
industry, and aims to be a fully integrated offshore solutions provider
with a range of offshore vessels catering to different phases of oilfield
development. Its range of services
include Offshore Supply Vessels
Transportation & Installation, Offshore Accommodation, Harbour
Services & Emergency Response.
Its fleet varies such as Anchor Han-
dling/Towing/Supply,Platform Supply Vessel, Anchor Handing/Towing
/Support,Accommodation Vessels,
Towing Tugs, Barges, Harbor Tugs
and Emergency Support and Work
boat.
POSH now emerges as the
5th in the world offshore rank in
terms of fleet size. With 110 vessels
at present, with 45 % Filipino crew,
40 % Indonesians,and the rest is a
mixture of other Asians and some
-(Mia Lapis)
Westerners.
30
TINIG NG MARINO
Still
Young
At
A
t 25, German Marine
Agencies Inc. (GMA Inc.)
considers itself young and
still needs to learn more in
life. It is no different from the
set of its new generation of
staff whose future has a lot of
more things to offer and has
bigger space to move around
and grow. It is the same excitement and anticipation
that GMA Inc. is looking forward to with preparedness
and sheer determination.
It was an acknowledgement personally made by the
foreign principals of GMA Inc.
during the celebration of its
25th year in the shipping industry held at the Microtel Hotel, Manila on August 22, 2014.
An evening of simple, yet
meaningful bonding time set
the tone of the occasion which
was well attended by foreign
and local management, staff
and crew, along with business
partners, friends and former
colleagues.
Captain Carlos A. Anacta,
president of GMA Inc., received
a well-deserved acknowledgment from its German partners for the establishment of
the company way back in 1989.
Capt. Anacta is a veteran international mariner with solid
years of experience in the sea
trade. He has shown expertise both in water and on land
Is Still
Young
at
which is obviously demonstrated in his management style and
business acumen.
His skills come with
talent and interests, too. The
captain has one great passion
— singing. This he shares generously to everyone. The silver
anniversary celebration was
ignited with his live rendition
of “Babe,” a rock song popularized in the 80s by the American
Band, STYX with the accompaniment of the AMO Band, an
equally popular local band during the said era.
GMA Inc. management,
staff and crew also gamely
showcased their talents by providing entertainment numbers.
Special prizes were raffled off in
between, and the dance floor
braced itself for swinging and
grooving.
-(Mia lapis)
32
TINIG NG MARINO
Return t
A
fter more than a
decade of legal
battles and administrative woes, the
Misamis Institute of
Technology (MIT) is
now free to reclaim its spot as
the top maritime school in the
entire Philippines. MIT president
Rene A. Maglasang, together
with Chairman of the Board Octavio A. Maglasang, have finally
regained control over both the
MIT and the Zamboanga del Sur
Maritime Institute of Technology (ZSMIT) after years and years
of litigation within the family-owned corporations.
Capt. Rene Maglasang,
along with his brothers Octavio
and Raul, have been dealing
with lawsuits and appeals since
2002 when a special set of elections usurped their positions
as trustees and officers of MIT
and ZSMIT. In August 2013, the
Commission of Higher Education (CHED) officially recognized
Capt. Rene Maglasang et. al. as
the duly elected and sworn officers and trustees for MIT. And
just last June, the corporate
court of Zamboanga City likewise passed a counterpart decision for ZSMIT.
This recent development
is significant news for stakeholders in the maritime industry, as
it promises a prolific source of
world-class seafarers which can
only boost our standing as the
leading global supplier of maritime manpower. Before leadership struggles plagued MIT and
ZSMIT, both schools were frontrunners in maritime education
in the late nineties. In fact, MIT
was adjudged as the top ranking maritime institution during
the first CHED assessment, easily
besting other maritime schools
such a MTC College, Davao Merchant Marine Academy, PMI Colleges, and Philippine Merchant
Marine Academy.
MIT’s mettle was such
that it was the only maritime institution in the Philippines which
had students already booked for
apprenticeships and jobs as early as their first year of schooling.
Moreover, foreign shipowners
would actually ask MIT to send
them a list of incoming trainees
so that they could offer slots onboard their vessels. Det Norske
Veritas (DNV), the Norwegian
certification agency for the Development of Maritime Training
and Education, ranked MIT’s
maritime education program as
the eighth best in the world.
MIT was also the first
maritime school to have a 100
percent licensure exam passing
rate for deck officers, thanks to
Project Alpha – a study now, pay
later program which provided
eligible candidates with rigorous
schooling and mentoring. This
two-year program literally transformed the novices into highly
sought-after seafarers who could
claim the world as their proverbial oyster. Manning agencies
and recruitment firms were very
eager to enlist these graduates
afterwards, as everybody in the
industry knew that they had received intensive classroom and
fieldwork training.
Sadly, what might be
called the golden era of MIT
was unceremoniously cut short
when Capt. Rene Maglasang
was ousted from his position as
president in 2002, a year before
he was due to end his five-year
term. This event turned out to
be the start of a 12-year struggle
TINIG NG MARINO
33
to Glory:
for corporate control among the
Maglasang siblings.
Leonardo Maglasang and
his spouse Doña Adela founded
MIT in 1967. They started the
foundation of excellence that
eventually established MIT as
one of the most prestigious maritime colleges in its time. Upon
their death, the control and ownership of MIT were inherited by
their six sons: Octavio, Rene, Raul,
Galileo, Manuel, and Allan. The
six brothers served in their respective positions as members of
the Board of Trustees, with Capt.
Rene Maglasang as president.
In 2002, a corporate dispute led the six brothers to split
into two equally-divided factions: on one side was Octavio,
Rene and Raul while on the
other was Galileo, Manuel and
Allan. The two sides engaged
in disputes over the management of the family corporation
but as the numbers were even,
the elections and deliberations
were simply deadlocked. Then,
Galileo and Manuel maneuvered to set up an alleged special election of officers and
trustees through which they
managed to elect themselves
and their wives. The so-called
elections were carried out without the knowledge of the opposing faction. Octavio, Rene
and Raul found themselves illegally ousted as trustees and officers. Galileo, Manuel and their
wives Lucile and Belmina took
over all business and financial
matters at MIT.
The following years were
marked by lawsuits and appeals.
As could be expected, Rene’s
camp did not take anything lying down. Unsurprisingly, this
was also the time that MIT started to slip from its position as a
top maritime college. By this
time, Rene, Octavio and Raul
had been excluded from the administration and management
of MIT and ZSMIT. The quality of
education declined.
Things finally came to a
head when the youngest brother, Allan, decided to side with
Rene after conclusive evidence
that Galileo’s wife Lucile has
been treating the ZSMIT financial accounts as her personal
milking cow. With Allan
on Rene’s side, the vote
was now four brothers
against two. In August
2013, a special election
was called. None of the
wives were admitted
as members of the Board; Galileo and Manuel did not participate. Octavio, Rene, Raul and
Allan were elected and sworn
as the new trustees and officers
for both MIT and ZSMIT and they
have already assumed their duties and responsibilities up to the
present. It would have been an
undiluted triumph except that
Raul did not even get to enjoy
his term; he passed away days
before he could be sworn in.
Capt. Rene Maglasang
and Engr. Octavio Maglasang
vowed to bring back the glory
of the premier maritime schools
in Mindanao. They have already
started curricular reforms and
policy changes for both MIT
and ZSMIT since last year, and
more facility expansions and upgrades are in the works. There’s
no doubt that the task is daunting, but the brothers are more
than confident that they can do
it—after all, they have already
done it before.
-(Joana Chrystal Ventura)
34
O
TINIG NG MARINO
C/E Tomas Orola
rophil Shipping International Company Inc. president
Tomas Orola was the guest of
honor and keynote speaker at
the Philippine Regulatory Board
(PRC)’s oath-taking ceremony for
marine engineers held on August
13, 2014 at the Manila Hotel on
Roxas Boulevard, Manila.
Orophil Shipping Int’I (formerly Tipolo Shipping), has been
the recipient of various awards
and citations, including the Top
Performer Award given by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to deserving
recruitment and manning agencies in recognition of exemplary
performance.
Established in 1980, Orophil has become one of the major
players not only in the Philippine
maritime employment scene but
also in the training of world-class
maritime graduates through its
own maritime educational institution, the VMA Global College.
Aside from being involved in maritime education, crewing and ship
management, Orophil has also established three sister companies
involved with shipbuilding and dry
docking operations: OKT Corporation, Kura Philippines, and Phil Nippon AOI Industry. These companies
are providing valuable opportunities to local welders and workers.
Orola has been instrumental in the
success of all these ventures.
This is actually not the first
time that the PRC Board of Marine
Engineer Officers recognized Orola’s professional contribution to the
maritime industry. In 2002, Orola
was the recipient of the PRC Most
Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer award. It was a double triumph
for him, as he was also the Maritime
Engineer Officers Association in the
Philippines (MEOAP) awardee for
the Most Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer that same year.
In his address, Orola recognized the hard work and sacrifices
of the new crop of marine engineer officers in order to achieve
their PRC credentials. However, he
also cautioned against complacency, reminding them that this is
but a step in their career path.
“Although we are valued professionals in this global industry, we
have to remember that many nationalities are trying to replace us.
We have to fight to stay on the
top. We can do this only by being
ahead, keeping up with technological developments and doing
the best that we can in our job as
a seafarer,” Orola stressed.
Orola added that a key to
maintaining the Filipino seafarers’
desirability in the international
market is to keep up with STCW
2010. “STCW 2010 has brought
many, many changes to the required training and upgrading for
seafarers,” he said. “Often, negative
reactions amass.
“Now is not the time to be
complacent,” he added. We have
to adhere to the changes affecting
compliance to STCW requirements.
We need to have the necessary
compliance in terms of qualification, competence, over-all health
and mental condition for this profession. These are the primary aspects in achieving our goal of maintaining our post as the in-demand
supplier of marine officers.”
Orola himself is aware
of the importance of continuing
education. He himself holds a
Master’s Degree in Maritime Management and is only several units
away from completing a Doctor’s
degree in the same specialization.
Colleagues say that Orola is equally passionate about encouraging
others to push for more in their
profession. He would personally meet with marine officers after
they have finished active contracts
and urge them to take required
IMO courses and corresponding
upgrading examinations to advance their credentials.
PRC Board members Engr.
Miguel Marasigan and Engr. Victo-
riano Alojado each concurred with
Orola’s message in their respective
speeches, especially about STCW
2010 and its implications for maritime professionals.
In the post-event interview,
Orola shared that he personally
feels very optimistic for this year’s
batch of new marine officers. He
predicts that they are in for a whole
new range of lessons and experiences as they embark on real life
after schooling. “There are so many
things that they don’t teach you in
school, stuff that you only learn in
training and from doing.”
PRC announced that in
the August 2014 Board examinations, 26 out of 37 passed the Chief
Marine Engineers Officers Licensure examination; 126 out of 209
passed the Second Marine Engineer Officers Licensure examination, while 260 out of 458 passed
the Officer-In-Charge of an Engineering Watch Licensure examination. The Board for Marine Engineer Officers is composed of Engr.
Miguel Marasigan (OIC), Engr. Victoriano Alojado, Engr. Ferdinand
Pascua and Engr. Eldefonso Uba.
-(Joana Chrystal Ventura)
from page 6
The Dawn of Drone...
cleaner, more efficient, and less expensive than the manned ocean freighters
that transport most of the world’s cargo today. If this project succeeds, these
uncaptained vessels could become a
key link in a human-free global supply
chain of consumer goods. The company best known for its sleek luxury cars,
Rolls Royce envisions a world where a
single tap on a smartphone could set
a massive cargo ship in motion half a
world away. The company believes
that one day, the industry will rely on
fully unmanned ships for the transport
of goods across the world’s oceans.
Esa Jokioinen, the incumbent
head of the Blue Ocean development
team of Rolls-Royce, explains how a
remote navigation system could work
for ships as large as 600,000 tons. “The
captain would sit at a shore location,
receiving real-time data from sensors over a secure communications
link. With multiple cameras around
the vessel, a full picture is available,
including a bird’s-eye view of the vessel in relation to its surroundings.” In
other words, once the technology is
in place, a ship moving goods from
Hong Kong to Los Angeles could be
controlled from a facility in Topeka,
Kansas—or anywhere else.
A major portion of the training for new ship captains takes place on
land, and their team has developed an
advanced 360-degree bridge-simulator
systems, currently in use for education
purposes. “These use complex mathematical models to provide the virtual
world of a ship at sea and its response
to control inputs.” Since human control
of the ship is transferred from the ship’s
bridge to a remote cockpit on shore, the
responsibility of avoiding a collision
still remains in the hands of the captain
rather than automated machinery.
The prospect of unmanned
drone ships remotely navigating the
world’s sea-lanes may sound like science fiction, but the shipping industry
has been seriously discussing the possibility for the past 10 years. The unabated increase in fuel costs in recent
years means that slower voyages are
more economical but longer journeys are less attractive to crew members. The savings generated by less
fuel-consuming voyages are invariably spent in looking for a competent
crew willing to spend longer tours on
board. The industry estimates that 44
percent of freighter costs are associated with human crews. Rolls Royce
further explained that the improved
navigation, and removal of the habitation space and life support that comes
with unmanned systems, will increase
efficiency in each ship by up to 20 percent aside from a corresponding 20
percent reduction in emissions.
It was only recently that
the European Union has become
convinced of the inevitability of universally unmanned cargo freighters.
TINIG NG MARINO
The EU subsequently invested $4.8
million to establish a project denominated as MUNIN (Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks). MUNIN aims to
develop and verify a concept for an
autonomous ship, which is defined
as a vessel primarily guided by automated on-board decision systems but
controlled by a remote operator in a
shore side control station. The main
35
objective of MUNIN is to see how far
we can automate all functions of the
ship,” says MUNIN Project Coordinator Ornulf Jan Rodseth.
Thus while “drone technology” holds out the promise of comfort
and ease in all its alluring poses, the
prospect of its eventual relegation of
man into a virtual non-entity stands
as its most daunting, if not insurmountable obstacle.
PROGRAMS
2014 COURSE PROGRAMS
SHIP
SHIP AND
AND CARGO
CARGO HANDLING
HANDLING COURSES
01A
01A Basic
Basic Training
Training for
for Oil
Oil and Chemical Tanker
STCW 2010
2010 (5
(5 Days)
Days)
-- STCW
SHIP Basic
AND
01B
BasicCARGO
TrainingHANDLING
for Liquefied
LiquefiedCOURSES
Gas Tanker
01B
Training
for
STCW
2010 (5
(5
Days)
01A --Basic
Training
forDays)
Oil and Chemical Tanker
STCW
2010
02
Advanced
Training
for
Oil
Tanker
STCW
2010
(5
Days)
02 Advanced Training for Oil Tanker
STCW
2010 (10
(10Liquefied
Days) Gas Tanker
01B ––Basic
Training
for
STCW
2010
Days)
03 Ship
Ship
Maneuvering
and Handling
Handling (5
(5 Days)
Days)
- STCW
2010 (5 Days)
03
Maneuvering
and
04
Advanced
Training
for
Chemical
Tanker
02 Advanced
AdvancedTraining
Training for
for Chemical
Oil TankerTanker
04
– STCW
2010
(10
Days)
STCW 2010
2010 (10
(10 Days)
Days)
–– STCW
05
Ship
Simulator
and Bridge
Teamwork
03 Ship
Ship Simulator
Maneuvering
Handling
(5 Days)
05
and and
Bridge
Teamwork
STCW (5 Days)
04 ––Advanced
STCW (5Training
Days) for Chemical Tanker
06 Advanced Training for Liquefied Gas Tanker
– STCW 2010
(10 for
Days)
06 Advanced
Training
Liquefied Gas Tanker
- STCW 2010
(10 Days)
05 Ship
Simulator
andDays)
Bridge Teamwork
STCW
2010 (10
06A -LNG
Familiarization
for Deck & Engine
– STCW
06A LNG
Familiarization
Ratings
**(5(4Days)
Days) for Deck & Engine
06
Advanced
Training
for
Liquefied Gas
Ratings
**
(4
Days)
06B LNG Cargo Handling Operations
* (5 Tanker
Days)
- STCW
2010
(10 Days)
06B
Cargo
Handling
Operations
* (5
Days)
06C LNG
LPG
Cargo
& Ballast
Handling * (5
Days)
06A
LNG
Familiarization
for
Deck
&
Engine
06C
LPG
Cargo
&
Ballast
Handling
*
(5
Days)
08 Navigational Watchkeeping & Collision
Ratings ** (4
Days)
08 Navigational
Watchkeeping
& Collision
Avoidance
* (5
Days)
06B Avoidance
LNG Cargo
* (5 Days)
09
Bridge
Team
(5 Days)
* Handling
(5Management
Days) Operations
06C Bridge
LPG Cargo
Ballast Handling
* (5 Days)
10
Ship-to-Ship
Lightering
* (5(5Days)
09
Team&Management
Days)
08 Ship-to-Ship
Navigational
Watchkeeping
& Collision Systems
11
Electronic
Chart
Display* &
10
Lightering
(5Information
Days)
–Avoidance
STCW 2010
Days) & Information Systems
* (5 (5
Days)
11 Electronic
Chart
Display
12A
Positioning
System(5–Days)
Basic (5 Days)
09 –Dynamic
Bridge
Management
STCWTeam
2010
(5 Days)
12B
Dynamic
Positioning
System
Advanced
10 Dynamic
Ship-to-Ship
Lightering
* (5 Days)
12A
Positioning
System
–– Basic
(5 Days)
(5
Days) Positioning
11 Dynamic
Electronic
Chart Display
& Information
Systems
12B
System
– Advanced
13 (5
Fixed
Hydraulic
Ship
Crane
Operator
Course
– STCW
Days) 2010 (5 Days)
–Dynamic
G20 (3 Days)
12A Fixed
Positioning
SystemOperator
– Basic (5
Days)
13
Hydraulic
Ship Crane
Course
13A
Crane
Training
Course
– G5 (5 Days)
12B –Offshore
Dynamic
Positioning
System
– Advanced
G20 (3 Days)
Shiphandling with High Lift Rudder (5 Days)
(5 Days) Crane Training Course – G5 (5 Days)
13A Offshore
| Refresher * (2 Days)
Fixed Hydraulic
Operator
--13 Shiphandling
withShip
HighCrane
Rudder
(5 Course
Days)
BRM w/ Shiphandling
(3Lift
Days)
–Refresher
G20 (3 Days)
|Crane
* (2 Days)
Simulator
Training * (5 Days)
13A
Offshore
Crane
Training
Course
–
G5
Days)
-BRM
w/–Shiphandling
(3 Days)
ECDIS
Kongsberg Familiarization*
(2(5Days)
Shiphandling
withTraining
High Lift
-Crane
Simulator
* (5Rudder
Days) (5 Days)
|
Refresher
*
(2
Days)
-MANAGEMENT
ECDIS – Kongsberg
COURSESFamiliarization* (2 Days)
BRM w/ Shiphandling
(3 *Days)
21
Shipboard
Management
(10 Days)
Crane Simulator
Training(5* Days)
(5 Days)
MANAGEMENT
COURSES
22
Maritime
Administration
ECDIS – Crew
Kongsberg
Familiarization*
Days)
23
Maritime
Resource
Deck
21
Shipboard
Management
*Management
(10 Days) (2 for
&
Engine
Officers
–
(BRM/ERM)
22 Maritime Administration (5 Days) ** (4 Days)
MANAGEMENT
COURSES
26
DNV- ISMCrew
Course
* (3 Days)
23
Maritime
Resource
Management for Deck
27A
Management
& Incident
21 &Maritime
Shipboard
Management
* (10
Days)
Engine Risk
Officers
– (BRM/ERM)
** (4 Days)
Investigation
(3 Days)
22 DNVMaritime
(5 Days)
26
ISMAdministration
Course
* (3 Days)
23 Maritime
Maritime Risk
CrewManagement
Resource Management
27A
& Incident for Deck
SAFETY
COURSES
& Engine Officers
– (BRM/ERM) ** (4 Days)
Investigation
(3 Days)
61
Officer
26 Ship
DNV-Security
ISM Course
* (3Course
Days) (3 Days)
61A
Watch
Security Course
*** (1 Day)
27A Gangway
Maritime
Risk
Management
& Incident
SAFETY
COURSES
61B Ship
Security Awareness
Training and Seafarers
Investigation
Days)Course
61 Ship
Security (3
Officer
(3 Days)
With Designated Security Duties (1 Day)
61A
Gangway Watch Security Course *** (1 Day)
62 Company Security Officer Course * (3 Days)
SAFETY COURSES
61B
Awareness
Training
Seafarers
63 Ship
Gas Security
Measuring
Equipment
Courseand
(2 Days)
61 Ship Designated
Security Officer
Course
(3 Days)
Security
(1 Day)
64A With
Safety Representative
andDuties
Working
Environment
61A Company
Gangway
Watch
Security
Course
***
(1
62
Security
Officer
*
(3
Days)
Committee – Formerly PEC (5 Days) Day)
61B Gas
ShipMeasuring
Security
Training
Seafarers
63
Equipment
Course
(2 Days)
65A
GMDSS
/ GOCAwareness
– STCW (15
Days)and
With Designated
Security
(1 Environment
Day)
64A
Safety
Representative
andDuties
Working
65B GMDSS
Refresher
Course
* (5 Days)
62 Committee
Company
Officer
* (3
Days)
–Radio
Formerly
PECCourse
(5 Days)
14
Basic
VHFSecurity
Communication
(2
Days)
63 GMDSS
Gas Measuring
65A
/ GOC –Equipment
STCW (15Course
Days) (2 Days)
64A GMDSS
Safety Representative
and *Working
65B
Refresher Course
(5 Days)Environment
Committee
– Formerly
PEC (5 Days)
14 Basic
VHF Radio
Communication
(2 Days)
65A GMDSS / GOC – STCW (15 Days)
65B GMDSS Refresher Course * (5 Days)
14 Basic VHF Radio Communication (2 Days)
ENGINEERING COURSES
COURSES
TECHNICAL // ENGINEERING
2014
COURSE
PROGRAMS
Engineering System
System ** (5
(5 Days)
Days)
41 Engineering
49
Bilge Water
Water && Waste
Waste Oil
Oil Operation
OperationManagement
Management
TECHNICAL
(5 Days)
Days)/ ENGINEERING COURSES
50
–Windows
(5
41 AMOS
Engineering
System
* (5 Days)
50
AMOS
–Windows
(5 Days)
Days)
--49 AMOS-W
Refresher
(3
Bilge Water
& Waste**Oil
Operation
Management
AMOS-W
Refresher
(3 Days)
Days)
51A
(5 Days) Boiler
51A Auxiliary
Auxiliary
Boiler Operational
Operational Maintenance
Maintenance**
Days)
50 (3
AMOS
(3
Days)–Windows (5 Days)
57
Corrosion
Paint
AMOS-W Protection
Refresher
(3 Days)
57
Corrosion
Protection *and
and
Paint Maintenance
Maintenance****
Days) Boiler Operational Maintenance *
51A (4
Auxiliary
(4
Days)
Paint
Course
Practicum
*
(1
Day)
(3 Days)
Paint
Course Practicum * (1 Day)
Sandblasting Trade Test* (1 Day)
Corrosion Protection
and (1
Paint
-57 Sandblasting
Trade Test*
Day)Maintenance **
Hydroblasting * (1 Day)
(4 Days)
Hydroblasting
* (1 Day)
58A
Star
– IPS (3 Days)
Paint–Course
Practicum * (1 Day)
58A
Star
IPS
(3
Days)
58B BASSnet HR – Payroll * (2 Days)
Sandblasting
Day)
58B
BASSnet
HR Trade
– Payroll
* (2(1Days)
58C
BASSnet
SAFIR
* (2Test*
Days)
Hydroblasting
* (1* (2
Day)
58C
BASSnet
SAFIR
Days) * (2 Days)
58D
BASSnet
Document
Manager
58A BASSnet
Star – IPSMaintenance
(3 Days) Manager
58D
BASSnet
Document
* (2 Days)
58E
& Procurement
*
58B (3
HR – Payroll *&(2Procurement
Days)
58E
BASSnet
*
Days) Maintenance
58C TM
BASSnet
* (2 Days) (3 Days)
(3
Days)
59
MasterSAFIR
v2 – ONBOARD
58D TM
BASSnet
Manager(3*Days)
(2 Days)
59
MasterDocument
v2 – ONBOARD
58E BASSnetPROGRAM
Maintenance & Procurement *
ASSESSMENT
(3 Days) Services
Ship’s
Catering
NC I (Messman Assessment)
ASSESSMENT
PROGRAM
Ship’s
Services
NC
(Ship’s
Cook
59 Catering
TM
Master
v2 – ONBOARD
(3 Days)
Ship’s
Catering
Services
NC III (Messman
Assessment)
Ship’s Assessment)
Catering Services NC II (Ship’s Cook
Ship’s
Catering Services
NC III (Chief Steward
ASSESSMENT
PROGRAM
Assessment)
I (Messman
Assessment)
Ship’s Assessment)
Catering Services NC III
(Chief Steward
Deck
Engine
Officers
Evaluation
Ship’s/ Assessment)
Catering/ Electrical
Services NC
II (Ship’s
Cook Program
Swedish
Maritime Legislation Examination
Assessment)
Deck / Engine / Electrical Officers Evaluation Program
Ship’s Catering
Services
NC IIIExamination
(Chief Steward
Swedish
Maritime
Legislation
ELECTROTECHNICAL COURSES
Assessment)
42 Control Engineering – Module 1 (10 Days)
Deck / Engine / ElectricalCOURSES
Officers Evaluation Program
ELECTROTECHNICAL
43
Control Engineering – Module 2 (5 Days)
Swedish
Maritime
LegislationModule
Examination
42
Control
Engineering
1 (10 Days)
44 Introduction
to Marine– Electro-technology
43 (10
Control
Engineering – Module 2 (5 Days)
Days)
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COURSES
44
Introduction
to Marine
Electro-technology
45
Marine
Electro-technology
(5 Days)
42 Electrical
Control
Engineering
1 (10(10
Days)
(10
Days)
46
Equipment –& Module
Schematics
Days)
43 Marine
ControlRefrigerant
EngineeringTransition
– Module
2Recovery
(5 Days) **
45
Marine
Electro-technology
(5 &Days)
46A
44
Introduction
to
Marine
Electro-technology
46 (3
Electrical
Days) Equipment & Schematics (10 Days)
(10 Days)
Refrigeration
& Air Conditioning
46A Marine
Marine
Refrigerant Transition
& Recovery **
45 -(3
Marine
5 Days)
Days*Electro-technology (5 Days)
46 Pneumatics
Electrical
Equipment
Schematics
Days)
70
for Marine& Application
* (10
(5 Days)
Marine
Refrigeration
Air
Conditioning
71
for Marine&Application
*
46A Electro-Pneumatics
Refrigerant Transition
Recovery **
-Marine
5 Days*
(3 Days)
Days) for Marine Application * (5 Days)
70 (5
Pneumatics
72
Logicfor
Control
forApplication
Marine *
Marine Refrigeration
& Air
Conditioning
71 Programmable
Electro-Pneumatics
Marine
Application
- 5Days)
Days* * (5 Days)
(5
73
Application
* (5
70 Hydraulics
PneumaticsforforMarine
MarineControl
Application
* (5Days)
Days)
72
Programmable
Logic
for Marine
74
Electro-Hydraulics
for Marine Application *
71 Application
Electro-Pneumatics
* (5 Days)for Marine Application *
(5
(5 Days)
Days) for Marine Application * (5 Days)
73 Hydraulics
Electrical Maintenance * (10 Days)
72 Marine
Programmable
Logic
Marine *
74
Electro-Hydraulics
forControl
Marine for
Application
Ex / Exi for Marine Application * (2 Days)
73
Application
(5
Days) * (5 Days)
Hydraulics for Marine Application * (5 Days)
Marine Electrical Maintenance * (10 Days)
ALFA
LAVAL
Electro-Hydraulics
Marine
Application
*
-74 Alfa
Ex
/ Laval
Exi forMarine
Marine&for
Application
* (2 Days)
47A
Power
Auxiliary
Machinery
(5 Days) – Module 1 (4 Days)
Systems
-47B LAVAL
Marine
Electrical
Maintenance
*
(10
Days)
ALFA
Alfa Laval Marine & Power Auxiliary Machinery
Ex / Laval
Exi for
Marine&2Application
* (2 Days)
47A
Alfa
Power
Auxiliary
Machinery
Systems
– Marine
Module
(5 Days)
Systems
Module Machinery
1 (4 Days) Course
48A Alfa
Laval–Auxiliary
ALFA (Customized
LAVAL
)* & Power Auxiliary Machinery
47B
Alfa Laval Marine
47A Fuel
Alfa Laval
Auxiliary Machinery
48C
Management
Systems
–Marine
Module&*2Power
(5 Days)
Systems
Module 1Machinery
(4 Days) Course
Alfa
Laval–Auxiliary
Alfa Laval Marine
(Customized
)* & Power Auxiliary Machinery
Systems
– Module *2 (5 Days)
Fuel
Management
Alfa Laval Auxiliary Machinery Course
(Customized )*
48Cthe
Fuel following
Management * responsibilities:
with
48A
47B
48C
48A
FRAMOCARGO
CARGOPUMPS
PUMPS
FRAMO
52 FRAMO
FRAMOOperation
Operation&&Maintenance
Maintenance
52
––for
forOfficers
Officers(5(5Days)
Days)
FRAMO
CARGO
PUMPS&&Maintenance
53
Operation
53 FRAMO
FRAMO
Operation
Maintenance
(5(5Days)
52 –FRAMO
Operation
& Maintenance
–for
forRatings
Ratings
Days)
– for Officers (5 Days)
CULINARY
COURSES
53
FRAMO
Operation & Maintenance
CULINARY
COURSES
81A
Catering
–Ship’s
for Ratings
(5Services
Days)
81A Ship’s
Catering
ServicesNC
NCIIII(Ship’s
(Ship’sCook)
Cook)
MLC
MLC2006
2006(10
(10Days)
Days)
82A
Ship’s Catering Services NC I1 (Messman)
CULINARY
82A Ship’sCOURSES
Catering Services NC I1 (Messman)
2006
(10 Days)
81A MLC
Ship’s
Catering
Services NC II (Ship’s Cook)
MLC 2006
(10 Days)
Ship’s Catering Services NC III (Chief Steward)
MLC
(10 Days)
Ship’s2006
Catering
Services NC III (Chief Steward)
MLC 2006 *
82A Ship’s
Catering
Services NC I1 (Messman)
MLC 2006
* Cooking
Scandinavian
Course * (5 Days)
-
MLC
2006 (10Cooking
Days) Course * (5 Days)
Scandinavian
Ship’s
Catering Services NC III (Chief Steward)
WELDING
COURSES
MLC COURSES
2006Welding
*
WELDING
83A
Advanced
Course – Various Onboard
-83A Welding
Scandinavian
Cooking
Course
* (5 Days)
Advanced
Welding
Course
– Various
Onboard
Processes
(10
Days)
Welding
Processes
(10Cutting
Days) (5 Days)
83B Electrode Welding and
WELDING
COURSES
83B Welding
Electrode
Welding
Cutting (5Steel
Days)(5 Days)
83C
and
Brazingand
of Stainless
83A
Advanced
Welding
Course
– Various
Onboard
83D
Welding
/ Brazing
Cutting
and
Brazing
(5 Days)
83C Gas
Welding
and
of Stainless
Steel
(5 Days)
Welding
Processes
(10and
Days)
83E
and
Brazing
of Seawater
83D Tig
GasWelding
Welding
/ Cutting
Brazing (5Pipe
Days)
83B
Welding
and Cutting
(5 Days)
Days)
83E (5Electrode
Tig
Welding
and Brazing
of Seawater
Pipe
83F
and Mag
(5 Stainless
Days) Steel (5 Days)
83C Mig
Welding
and Welding
Brazing of
(5 Days)
83G
Welding
and
Fabrication
(10 Days)
83D
Gas
Welding
Cutting
and
Brazing
(5 Days)
83F Basic
Mig and
Mag /Welding
(5 Days)
83H
forand
Shipfitters
(10
Days)
83E
Tig
Welding
Brazing
of Seawater
Pipe
83G Upgrading
Basic
Welding
and
Fabrication
(10 Days)
83I
Test 1for
– Basic
Test of(10
Welding
(5
Days)
83H Trade
Upgrading
Shipfitters
Days) Skills
Hours)
83F
and
Mag
(5 Days)
83I (2Mig
Trade
Test
1 –Welding
Basic Test
of Welding Skills
83J
Test
2 – Advanced
Test of(10
Welding
83G Trade
Basic
Welding
and Fabrication
Days)Skills
(2 Hours)
(1 Day)
83H
83J Upgrading
Trade Test for
2 –Shipfitters
Advanced(10
TestDays)
of Welding Skills
83K Training / Testing for DNV Welder Certification
83I Trade
Test 1 – Basic Test of Welding Skills
(1
Day)
83L Arc Welding and Gouging – Sea Fastening
Hours)
83K (5(2
Training
Days) / Testing for DNV Welder Certification
83J
Trade
Test 2 – Advanced
Test
of Welding
Skills
83L Basic
Arc Welding
– Sea
Fastening
83M
Weldingand
andGouging
Metalworking
(20
Days)
(1
(5 Day)
Days) Welding and Pipe Fabrication
83N Advanced
83K
Training
/ Testing
forMetalworking
DNV Welder (20
Certification
83M (10
Basic
and
Days)
– 15Welding
Days)
83L
Arc
Welding
and Test
Gouging
– Sea
83N Fitter
Advanced
Welding
and
Pipe
Fabrication
83O
/ Fabricator
(1.5
Days
| Fastening
Max 12 Hours)
(5
(10Days)
– 15Cutting
Days) Process (1 Day)
83P Plasma
83M
Basic
Welding
and
Metalworking
Days)
83O Pipe
FitterWelding
/ Fabricator
Test (1.5 Days |(20
Max
12 Hours)
83Q
Practicum
83N
Advanced
Welding
and Pipe
Fabrication
83R
Course
Ship Officers
83P Welding
Plasma Inspection
Cutting
Process
(1for
Day)
(10
–
15
Days)
(3
days)
83Q Pipe Welding Practicum
83O
/ Fabricator
Test
(1.5 Days
| Max
12 Hours)
83R Fitter
Welding
Inspection
Course
for Ship
Officers
OTHER
83P Plasma
(3COURSES
days)Cutting Process (1 Day)
Marine
Engineering
Machineries * (5 Days)
83Q Pipe
WeldingAuxiliary
Practicum
Energy
Management
Awareness
* (3
Days)
83R
Welding
Inspection
CourseCourse
for Ship
Officers
OTHER
COURSES
Environmental
Training
* (3 days)* (5 Days)
days)Awareness
Marine(3Engineering
Auxiliary
Machineries
Diesel
Course *Awareness
(5 Days) Course * (3 Days)
EnergyEngine
Management
Engineering
Knowledge for Deck Officers * (4 Days)
OTHER
COURSES
Environmental
Awareness Training * (3 days)
Maritime
Leadership Training*
(4 Day)
Marine
Engineering
Auxiliary
Machineries
* (5 Days)
Diesel Engine
Course
* (5 Days)
Shipboard Time Management * (2 Days)
Energy
Management
Awareness
Engineering
Knowledge
for Deck Course
Officers* *(3(4Days)
Days)
Bosun’s Course *
Environmental
Awareness
Training
* (3 days)
Maritime Leadership
Training*
(4 Day)
Diesel Engine Course * (5 Days)
Shipboard Time Management * (2 Days)
NOTE:
Knowledge
forupon
Deckrequest
Officers * (4 Days)
Bosun’s
Course
*
*Engineering
Course
conducted
only
Leadership
Training*
(4 Day)
**Maritime
Course
starts every
TUESDAY
of scheduled week.
Shipboard
Time
Management
*
(2
Days)
NOTE:
*** Course conducted on THURSDAY
and FRIDAY of
Bosun’s
Course
*
* scheduled
Course
conducted
only upon request
week
** Course starts every TUESDAY of scheduled week.
NOTE:
*** Course conducted on THURSDAY and FRIDAY of
* Course
conducted
scheduled
week only upon request
** Course starts every TUESDAY of scheduled week.
*** Course conducted on THURSDAY and FRIDAY of
scheduled week
JOB OPENING: WELDING TRAINING OFFICER
JOB OPENING
JOB OFFICER
OPENING:
WELDING
OFFICER
COMPLIANCE
- will various
be responsible
for the/ courses
design
continuous
Conduct
and implement
training TRAINING
programs
ofand
welding
in areas
of SMAW,
TIG,
MIG/MAG
and
Oxy-Acetelyne
processes;
development
of
course
programs
offered
by
NTC-M
both
for
regular
participants
with
the
following
responsibilities:
JOB
OPENING:
WELDING
TRAINING
OFFICER
Set and
maintain
workshop
facilities
and
other
improvements;
and NSA
cadets,
ensuring
their
compliance
with
the
requirements
STCW ’78 as
Conduct
and
implement
various
training
programs
/ courses ofofwelding
Assist in the Assessment of welding test results;
with
the
following
responsibilities:
areas
of applicable
SMAW,
TIG,
MIG/MAG
and
Oxy-Acetelyne processes;
amended in
and
other
rules
and
standards.
Carry out of town assignments for NTC-M
Conduct
andmaintain
implement
various facilities
training and
programs
courses of welding
Set and
workshop
other /improvements;
Carries out substantial review of welding courses at least once a year
The Candidate:
in areas of
SMAW,
TIG,
MIG/MAGof
and
Oxy-Acetelyne
Assist
in the
Assessment
welding
test results;processes;
or she
must and
be: other
Set and maintain
workshop
facilities
improvements;
Carry out
ofHe
town
assignments
for NTC-M
• Acollegegraduate,preferablyabachelorinmaritimefieldofeducation;
A Unitor
certified
DNV
class
Assist
in thereview
Assessment
of welding
test
results;
Carries out substantial
of Welder
welding
courses
at6-g
least once a year
• Havesufficientknowledgeandunderstandingofmaritimeeducationalsystem;
With extensive
offor
at NTC-M
least 5 years
Carry outwelding
of townexperience
assignments
• Musthaveanexperienceincoursecurriculumdevelopment,educational
He
or
she
must
be:
working
knowledge
of courses
Weldingat
Technology
Carries All
outaround
substantial
review
of welding
least once a year
measurementandevaluation;
A Unitor certified
Welder
DNV class 6-g
and Willing
to travel
He or she
must be:of at least 5 years
With extensive welding
experience
• HolderofvalidPRCidentification;
A Unitor
certified
Welder
classComplex
6-g
All around
working
knowledge
ofDNV
Welding
Technology
Interested applicants may drop by or call the Human
Resources
Department,
at NTC-M
building,
TESDA
East Service Road
• Completed6.09and3.12IMOModelCourses;
extensive
welding
experience
Taguig City,
Tel.
No.: (632)With
812-0742
or (63)
0917-5222472
and
Willing
to travelof at least 5 years
•
Preferablywithteachingexperienceinmaritimerelatedfield;
All around working knowledge of Welding Technology
www.ntcm.com.ph
• Genuineinterestincoursedevelopment.
Visit our blog: http://ntcm360.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/norwegiantrainingcenter-manila
@ntcm360
and Willing to travel
Interested applicants may drop by or call the Human Resources Department, at NTC-M building, TESDA Complex East Service Road
Taguig City, Tel. No.: (632) 812-0742 or (63) 0917-5222472
Interested applicants may drop by or call the Human Resources Department, at NTC-M building, TESDA Complex East Service Road
Taguig City,
Tel. No.: (632) 812-0742
or (63) 0917-5222472
www.ntcm.com.ph
@ntcm360
www.ntcm.com.ph
@ntcm360
36
TINIG NG MARINO
CTI
We invest on young and dynamic Filipino Cadets
Stronger Team
Joining the said event
were some of the staff of
CTI-Mideast Management.
The contract signing was
followed by classic cocktails
and a press conference
Growing fast
“At Mideast, we’re doing very well. The company
With Signatures Affixed, a start of Stronger Relationships
is growing. It’s going to get
fter fruitful years of connec- bigger and bigger. We have 43 ships;
tion, Centennial Transmarine by mid-year about 70 ships and over
Inc. and the Mideast Ship Man- a hundred as Mideast grows,” affirms
agement Ltd. are taking another President Houston.
Mideast Ship Management Ltd
step forward in aiming for development in the maritime industry. is one of the largest ship manageCTI and Mideast have once ment companies of the world and
again unified as the MOA Renewal served as in-house ship manager
Ceremony was held last August 12 of The National Shipping Company
of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) which owns
at the Hyatt Hotel, Manila.
With the theme “Gearing a fleet of 23 chemical carriers ,17
Towards Stronger Relationship,” the VLCC, six RoRo and five bulk carriers
contract signing was led by Mideast through its subsidiary the National
president Robert Houston and Fleet Chemical Carriers (NCC) established
personnel manager Mark Buchanan in partnership with SABIC (Saudi
together with President Eduardo Arabia Basic Industry Corporation).
Mideast also merged operaJabla and Atty. Jun Espinosa of CTI.
The seven-year partnership tions with Vela International Marine
of CTI and MIDEAST started in 2007. taking 20 ships and its management.
Since then, they have continued It has now become a fully integrated
strengthening their ties in their al- ship-owning company that caters
most a decade of being together in services with full of expertise in the
international tanker industry.
the industry.
“The relationship doesn’t
All-Filipino crew onboard
change at all. With seven years, the
CTI absolutely did a great job,” MidIn the maritime industry, the
east President Houston said.
A
numbers of Filipino seafarers onboard are evidently increasing. They
have remained to be of high caliber in the seafaring market. Thus,
Mideast employs Filipino crew and
always looks forward to engaging
young cadets in their fleet.
“I’m very comfortable with
Filipinos,” President Houston stated
“We’ve been working for seven years,
and when we came here, the thing
was to get more and more senior officers from the Philippines. We’ve got
a lot more junior Filipino officers that
soon will be senior officers. All our
junior officers are Filipinos.”.
President Houston also said
that Filipino seafarers are always
dedicated to their job and hardworking. “We keep on coming back
and we increase Filipino seafarers
onboard,” he noted.
Maximizing the standards
As part of Mideast’s success,
CTI made a great role in producing promising cadets and staff that
showcase their expertise in the field.
According to CTI COO Capt.
Jeffrey P. Solon, the grateful loyalty of Filipino cadets is one of their
main assets in the industry. Furthermore, Filipinos can speak English
fluently enabling them to interact
with different nationalities
As part of the cadet program, the
company grants financial support,
scholarship program and education-
al loans. They are also keen on giving
competent trainings and programs
that will support the cadets into the
ladder to become senior officers.
Their main goal is to provide the cadets with proper training
which are fitted according to their
needs that will motivate them to
become more effective and efficient
professional seafarers.
“We give them more trainings
to be future senior officers. We wanted to bridge the gap of their college
years to become cadet officers,” CTI
president Eduardo Jabla added.
Moreover, Mideast is sponsoring cadets at Davao Merchant
Marine Academy (DMMA) and other maritime schools in Mindanao
where a majority of their cadets
come from.
The broader perspective
With seven years of collaboration, CTI and Mideast prove that
they can stand out alongside in
producing promising cadets in the
industry.
“There are lots of manning
companies nowadays and the competition is very tough. But then, we
assure you that the quality of officers we produce can definitely vie
in the professional world. We always
set good standards and one of our
main goals is to make them happy,”
CTI president Jabla ended.
-(Jona Antonino)
from page 19
The ever-ending path to
justice...
alternative route to steer clear of the
typhoon’s path.
But petitioners insist that
Go was aware of this risky proposition: “Go never acted surprised or
alarmed upon being informed that
the M/V Princess of the Stars was
taking the regular route. It was not
news to him that the Stars was not
supposed to be in the regular route.
This fact alone blatantly shows foreknowledge of accused Go that captain Florencio Marimon never intended to take the Stars through the
alternate route but was merely a ruse
to obtain a departure clearance from
the Philippine Coast Guard.”
There are also some industry
insiders who claim an even more sinister involvement on the part of Go:
allegedly, when the captain proposed
to Sulpicio officers that he would be
steering along the safer alternative
course, he was categorically forbidden from doing so because the new
route would consume an additional
P500,000 worth of fuel. An eyewitness purported to have heard Go
himself sarcastically give permission
for the captain to take the long way
around, as long as he (Marimon) was
willing to pay for the extra cost out of
his own pocket. While the account is
assumedly not admissible in court, it
only strengthens the families’ resolve
to see justice done.
Aside from the victims’ families, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has also filed its own MR.
The OSG insists that “there is probable cause for respondent Go to be
indicted for the crime of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide, physical injuries and damage
to properties.” The OSG motion were
signed by petitioners Purita Hibe,
Nissan Laurel, Estella Geli, Arlene
Olang, Jospehine Paadua, Vicenta
Chua, Illuminada Timajo, Lilybeth
Cunanan, Elorde Illustrisimo, Bob
Illut, Ernesto Clarin, Evelyn Bajet,
Larina Matriz, Celerna Calayag and
Sonia Manzanilla. Both MRs —the
victims’ families and the OSG’s —
sought for the elevation of the case
TINIG NG MARINO
to the SC en banc for the decision of
the high tribunal’s 15 justices, on the
grounds that it pertains to a matter of
paramount national interest.
The OSG argues that the
Court of Appeals (CA) erred in its
April 2013 ruling which declared
no probable cause for indictment.
This 2013 ruling invalidated the
2009 DOJ resolution which found
probable cause to charge Go with
criminal liability. According to
their petition, Go failed to implead
an indispensable party as a party-respondent in his petition for
certiorari thus rendering the CA’s
ruling null and void for want of authority to act.
The M/V Princess of the
Stars sailed from the Port of Manila,
bound to Cebu City on June 20, 2008
with 849 people onboard; more than
700 were passengers, 111 were crew
members and 29 were contractors.
At about noon the following day, it
encountered rough seas off the coast
of Romblon due to the Typhoon
Frank, eventually capsizing at 6pm.
Only 32 survived; more than 300
were confirmed dead and more than
37
five hundred remain missing until
now, their bodies presumed to be
buried inside the wreck. The sinking
is only one of the more than 50 maritime mishaps involving Sulpicio’s
fleet, the most notable of which is
M/V Dona Paz 1987 tragedy which
holds the world record for the worse
maritime disaster in peacetime. No
member of the Go family has ever
been found criminally liable for any
of these, despite causing more than
5000 deaths throughout the years.
In 2009, Sulpicio Lines Inc. changed
its name to Philippine Span Asia
Carrier Corporation through a director’s certificate submitted to the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) bearing the signatures
of Enrique S. Go, Eusebio S. Go,
Victoriano S. Go, Dominador S. Go,
Ricardo S. Go and Edward S. Go.
Under its new moniker, the
company was again involved in another disaster on August 16, 2013
when its cargo ship M/V Sulpicio Express Siete collided with 2Go-owned
passenger ferry M/V St. Thomas
Aquinas. There were more than 150
casualties in the said incident.
38
TINIG NG MARINO
HEALTH TIPS
ELPIDIO C. NOLASCO, MD, FPCS, PACS
General & Cancer Surgeon, Laparoscopic Surgeon
President & Medical Director, Nolasco International Medical & Diagnostic Clinic
S
ince many people are alone when
they suffer a heart attack, without help,the person whose heart is
beating improperly and who begins
to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However,these victims can
help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be
taken before each cough, and the
cough must be deep and prolonged,
as when producing sputum from
deep inside the chest. A breath and a
cough must be repeated about every
two seconds without let-up until help
arrives, or until the heart is felt to be
beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into
How to Survive a Heart Attack
When You Are Alone
the lungs and coughing movements
squeeze the heart and keep the blood
circulating. The squeezing pressure
on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack
victims can get to a hospital. Tell as
many other people as possible about
this. It could save their lives!!
A cardiologist says If everyone who sees this post shares it to 10
people, you can bet that we’ll save at
least one life. Rather than sharing
jokes only please contribute by forwarding this info which can save a
person’s life.
Warning: Do not depend
facebook posts on emergency situations, consult with your doctor before practicing in real life
from page 18
PISOBILITIES
kaya narating niya kung ano ang
meron siya ngayon. Kaya naisipan
kong humingi ng advice sa inyo.
Abangan ang sagot ko kay
Ginoong HA sa susunod na isyu ng
Tinig ng Marino.
Kung gusto mong mag-invest sa isang negosyo, bisitahin ang
www.kskcoop.com o tumawag sa
6373731/41 at magtanong sa mga
oportunidad na pinaka-angkop sa iyo.
MAY BAGONG NANGYAYARI SA PISOBILITIES! Sundan
ito sa Light Network tuwing Martes,
8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at sa GMA News
TV tuwing Sabado, 6 a.m. - 6:30 a.m.
Bisitahin ang www.colaycofoundation.com para sa schedule
ng aming mga seminar. Mag-text
din sa 09178188857 o tumawag sa
637-3731/41. Sali na sa Pisobilities:
Wealth Within Your Reach seminar
sa ika-12 ng Setyembre, at simulan
mo na ang iyong paglalakbay tungo
sa yaman!
Mabibili mo rin ang aming
mga libro mula sa amin o sa mga
bookstore.
TINIG NG MARINO
39
from page 13
Panama and Nicaragua
Canal...
to open for traffic in 2015. The
present locks, which will be 100
years old, will then be able to give
engineers greater access for maintenance and are projected to continue operating indefinitely (Popular
Mechanics Issue, Feb. 2010)
However, despite this future development proposal, Panama Canal is facing a gargantuan challenge because on June 15,
2013, Nicaragua awarded the Hong
Kong-based HKND Group, a 50year concession to develop a canal
through the country (De Cordova,
Jose June 2013) - THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
NICARAGUA REVIVES ITS
CANAL DREAM
From the main article of
Nicaragua Canal, July 2014: “The
Nicaraguan parliament has approved a plan to let a Hong Kong
based company design and build
a competing canal. According to
the deal, the company will also be
responsible for taking care of the
canal during the next 50 years. The
government of Nicaragua hopes
this will boost the economy, but
the opposition is afraid of failure”.
Is this the basis of the question Is
it a dream? Is it a reality?
The same article continues
to report that “On July 7, 2014,
Wang Jing, Chairman of the HK
Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Ltd (HKND Group),
informed during a discussion group
with students from the National
Engineering University in Managua, that a route for Nicaragua’s
proposed canal has been approved.
The construction work is expected
to start in December 2014 and will
be completed in five years.”
NICARAGUA CANAL :
DREAM VS. REALITY
From the insight of IHS
Maritime Editorial dated July 17,
2014, “The latest in a long line of
plans to build a canal across Nicaragua took another step forward
last week with the announcement
of a chosen route.” Theoretically,
“The construction of Nicaragua’s
Gran Canal Inter-Oceanico, just
a short sail north of Panama Canal would be a huge plus for both
shipping and dredging.” But realistically, Nicaragua’s dream is not
likely to become a reality.
THE VERDICT ON “DAVID VS
GOLIATH” COMPETITION
Since the Panama Canal is
only 77 Km long, just imagine the
ambitious plan and cost to construct a 278 km long across Lake
Nicaragua. The official cost estimate for what has been dubbed
“The biggest construction project
history of mankind” is $ 40 B, although some outside estimates are
more than double that sum according to IHS . Of course with these
two adjacent canals, it would surely
invite and open up Asia-Americas
routes for VLCCs, VLGCs, ULCSs,
Valemaxes, and QMax LNG carriers, adds the HIS Editorial.
With this business opportunity in mind, what will stop The
Panama Canal Authority to recommend for another lock or the fourth
Lock Plan, expanding vessel-size allowances beyond those of the third
set now being constructed.
The heat is on. Business is
war. For sure, the two largest adjacent canals would grab and court
the same customers and squeeze
profit margins. From our basic economics, consumers stand to gain
most from greater competition. Fair
and open competition means lower
prices and greater choice.
And the winner to this
David vs. Goliath Construction are
of course the big shipping lines,
the ever-larger vessels and those
dredging companies, contractors,
and business opportunist.
40
TINIG NG MARINO
A Congress Of, For and By the Seafarers
is Ready for the Meet
by Mia Lapis
N
ow on the fourth year of its
session, the indomitable call
for action to all concerned and involved in the maritime industry,
particularly in the seafaring sector, is again shouting out loud for
the active participation of leaders, stakeholders and the seafarers
themselves to sit down, talk and
most of all, work positively for the
betterment of the sector they belong to.
This year as the call gets
louder and farther, reaching the
islands of the entire nation, the
Philippine government public
servants, the various agency officials, and maritime aces will occupy the front seats to heed the call,
understand and create possible
resolutions to conflicting issues
should the need arise.
Being a staunch participant
of the National Maritime Week Celebration 2014 slated on September
22-28, the United Filipino Seafarers
(UFS) in collaboration with Luneta Sefarers’ Center (LUSWELF),
and in cooperation with the DZIQ
990AM Radio Inquirer and UNTV
Serbisyo Publiko, the “4th Philippine Seafarers’ Congress” on the
22nd of September 2014 will again
take the stage at the Luneta Seafarers’ Center.
Honorable Senator Grace
Poe, Mayor Joseph Estrada and Vice
Mayor Isko Moreno of the host city,
Manila, Congresswoman. Emmeline
Aglipay, OWWA Administrator Rebeca Cazaldo, Mr. Don Bagatsing,
chairman, Luneta Seafarers Welfare
Foundation LUSWELF, the host
venue, Engr. Nelson Ramirez, president, United Filipino Seafarers and
several maritime proponents will
converge for to hear the voice of the
seafarers that continue to reverberate over the years.
In line with this, MAGNA
CARTA FOR SEAFARERS, the draft
that seeks to ensure the protection
of the rights and welfare of the Filipino seafarers by instituting mechanisms that implement standards and
Seizure of Ships Used for Mass Transport of Cocaine,
Ecstasy Becoming More Common
A
n alarming practice of using
sea-going vessels as a means
to transport large amounts of illegal
drugs continues to be a flourishing
business. However, drug control operations are becoming more adept at
catching perpetrators. Government
authorities all over the world are reporting record hauls of ships apprehended in the act of large-volume
drug smuggling. The most recent
incident just happened this August
in Burma when the Navy intercept-
ed a ship carrying about $2.4 worth
of ecstasy tablets.
Burmese police said that the
ship was intercepted near the town
of Kawthoung, which lies close to the
border shared by Thailand and Burma. Police Brigadier General Kyaw
Win, one of the officers of the drug
control committee for the home affair ministry, stated that this haul is
believed to be the largest ever discovered for this kind of drug in Burma.
Burma is known to be one
asianjournal.com
of the largest producers of heroin
and methamphetamine in the region. Drug production has surged
in recent years especially in hidden
jungle laboratories situated in wartorn borderlands.
Meanwhile, in the first
week of August this year, charges
were pressed against three Spanish naval officers found responsible
for stashing 127 kilograms of cocaine onboard a Spanish Armada
training ship, the Juan Sebastian
Elcano. A joint operation between
the Spanish Armada and the U.S.
Homeland Security discovered that
Columbian traffickers have established a modus operandi for using
sailors as drug mules. Columbian
traffickers would allegedly capture
or approach sailors from foreign
ships docked in Columbian ports
to transport drugs in exchange for
money; the amount paid was calculated based on the number of kilograms safely transported.
The discovery is doubly
embarrassing to Spain as the Juan
Sebastian Elcano serves as the
country’s floating embassy. The
Spanish navy itself calls it “our most
emblematic and symbolic vessel”.
The tall ship, which is currently
the 3rd-largest in the world, has
hosted numerous dignitaries and
high-ranking officials.
There have been other notable narcotic crackdowns in other
parts of the world as well. A year ago,
drug smugglers set fire to the freighter Gold Star in an ill-guided attempt
to destroy the 30 tons of hashish
that it carried onboard, as the Italian
coastguard gave chase. As the Tanzania-registered vessel burned, nine
persons onboard jumped overboard
but they eventually had to be rescued
by the very same authorities that they
were trying to evade.
42
TINIG NG MARINO
Families of SEWOL Tragedy Consoled
by Pope during Papal Visit
T
he families of the victims of the
April SEWOL ferry accident
vowed in the beginning of August
that they will fight back if forced to
budge from their protest in Gwanghwamun Square during Pope Francis’
August 14-18 visit to South Korea.
Negotiations between the families
and the Korean authorities were successful, however, and compromises
were reached so no untoward events
marred the historic 5-day occasion.
The area occupied by the
group is traditionally used as a ceremonial plaza. It sits right in the
center of the grounds where the
scheduled beatification of the 124
Korean martyrs was to take place.
The protestors, composed of the
bereaved families and their supporters, had been camped out in the
ceremonial plaza in tents for three
weeks prior their declaration. The
group is demanding the early parliamentary passage of a special bill that
would allow the conduct of an independent, transparent probe into the
accident which caused the deaths
of 304 people, most of whom were
high school students on a school
field trip. The proposed bill was supposed to have passed the week before, but it was stalled in the National Assembly after opposing political
parties failed to reach an agreement
on some of its provisions.
The protestors sent a letter
to Pope Francis, explaining their
refusal to vacate the square, asking
his understanding, and urging him
to help their cause with the government. Aside from the letter, some
asked the Pope to help them understand why their children had to die
in the way that they did. Park Jung
Hye-sook, a mother who lost her
18-year old son, said that the Korean government has “no political will
to seek the truth”.
The Catholic Church, for
its part, has made it clear that it
had no plans for forcible eviction.
In the end, the protestors agreed to
take out all but two of their tents.
In exchange, the government-civilian Committee for the Papal Visit
to Korea accepted their request to
allow some 600 of their member to
attend the beatification ceremony.
Pope Francis himself made
well-received gestures to reach out
to the bereaved families. During the
procession before the open-air mass
TINIG NG MARINO
43
ATTENTION TO ALL FILIPINO
SEAFARERS AROUND THE WORLD!
TINIG NG MARINO on UNTV will be having a new format of our
show. We will include in our episode the greetings of seafarers who
are currently on board. We are inviting you to post a video clip to
my facebook account and pages or send through my email address
npr.ufs@gmail.com or ufs_07@yahoo.com. Do it this way.
NEW TIME SLOT OF TINIG
NG MARINO on TV is
every Saturday
6:15 to 7:00 P.M.
Channel 9
Channel 58 Channel 92
Channel 37
- Destiny
- Sky
- Cignal
- UHF
Don't fail to watch the UNDISPUTED Maritime Television Show two time “Anak TV
Seal Awardee" TINIG NG MARINO at UNTV every Saturday at 6:15 to 7 P.M.. Channel
37 on UHF, Channel 9 on Destiny Cable , Channel 58 Sky Cable, Channel 92 on Cignal,
Channel 58 on Digibox and millions all over the world are watching via livestreaming on
www.untvweb.com.
(1) Batiin ninyo ang ating programa sa television TINIG NG MARINO
at batiin din ninyo ang aking co-host na si Ms. Annie Rentoy at si
Kuya Daniel Razon being the chairman of the UNTV Station na
nagbigay sa atin ng programa.
(2) Banggitin ninyo ang pangalan ng inyong barko at saan kayo sa
mga oras na yan.
(3) Banggitin ninyo ang mga crew ng inyong barko.
(4) Batiin din ninyo ang inyong mga pamilya dito sa Pilipinas.
IMPORTANT: Ingatan po na huwag gumamit ng masasamang
linguahe. Ang dalawang mapipiling greetings ay
isasama agad namin ito sa aming next episode.
Ang ibang mga video ay sa mga susunod na episode.
NPR explains to co-host Annie Rentoy the advantages and disadvantages of
African and foreign maritime students in the country and why they prefer to
study in our maritime institution.
Mr. Anfred Yulo of LUSWELF discusses the upcoming activities of the 4th
Seafarers Congress and Motorcade of UFS and LUSWELF for the National
Seafarers Day at the LUSWELF, T.M. Kalaw, Ermita, Manila.
NPR and Guest Engr. Rainero Morgia discussing to co-host Annie Rentoy on
the emerging capacity of the Philippines as a top shipbuilder industry in Asia
and making its way to be in the top list in the world.
Capt. Jess Morales proudly shares the current development and programs
of the Integrated Seafarers of the Philippines to help Filipino seafarers when
they retire.
44
TINIG NG MARINO
Arrest Warrant Out
for Rey Gambe
WANTED!
for QUALIFIED THEFT
by Ruth Cervantes
Php 20,000 REWARD!
A
warrant for the arrest of former
Tinig Ng Marino managing editor Rey Gambe was issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 17.
The order for Gambe’s arrest
was issued by Presiding Judge Felicitas O. Laron-Cacanindin on August
11, 2014.
Gambe is facing 11 criminal
cases of qualified theft for alleged embezzlement of Tinig ng Marino funds.
The five warrants of arrest
issued against TNM’s former Managing Editor, who went AWOL sometime around February 23,2012, was
issued after the court determined
that there was probable cause that a
crime has been committed and that
a respondent, in this case, Gambe, is
probably guilty thereof, and should
stand for trial.
The arrest warrants are enforceable by police officers anywhere
in the Philippines. On the strength of
said warrants, law enforcers may arrest Gambe on any day, at any time of
the day or night. The warrant must
be executed within 10 days from receipt of the authorities, and must be
returned to the court if they fail to
execute the warrant. However, the
warrant does not lose its effectivity after the 10-day period. The court said,
“...you should retain in your office for
further implementation, unless it was
recalled by this Court.”
WHAT WENT BEFORE
On May 3, 2012, United Filipino Seafarer president Engr. Nelson
P. Ramirez, in behalf of the UFS, filed
a complaint against Gambe for qualified theft. UFS is the publisher of
TNM. Ramirez was authorized by the
UFS Board of Directors to file the said
criminal case against Gambe.
The complaint was filed
about two months from their discovery that Gambe had surreptitiously
opened a separate bank account for
Tinig ng Marino, issued several unauthorized Statements of Account to
TNM advertisers, and siphoned the
advertisers’ payments to said bank account under his control.
Subsequently, an informa-
tion was filed against Gambe before
the Regional Trial Court of Manila.
QUALIFIED THEFT
Theft is the taking of personal property of another without
the latter’s consent, and with intent
to gain. It is defined and punished
under Articles 308 and 309 of the Revised Penal Code.
Theft becomes qualified when
it is committed by (1) a domestic servant, or (2) with grave abuse of confidence, or (3) if the property stolen is
motor vehicle, mail matter or large cattle or consists of coconuts taken from
the premises of a plantation, fish taken
from a fishpond or fishery or if property is taken on the occasion of fire,
earthquake, typhoon, volcanic eruption, or any other calamity, vehicular
accident or civil disturbance. (Article
310, Revised Penal Code, as amended
by Batas Pambansa 71)
Gambe was charged with
qualified theft because he occupied a
crucial position in the management of
TNM and its publisher reposed trust
in him. The UFS alleged that he took
advantage of his position and violated
the confidence of TNM’s publisher, in
the commission of the crime.
ROBERT REY GAMBE
former TNM Managing Editor
For any information on the whereabouts of this
person, a reward of Php20,000.00 will be given by Tinig ng Marino. Please contact, UFS Office 525-5806 / 524-48888 or Engr. Nelson P.
Ramirez at 0922-8689457 / 0917-7944264 and/
or 0939-9148779.
BAIL
Gambe is allowed to post bail
(either in cash, property bond or by
surety bond acceptable to the court)
to secure his temporary liberty.
In Criminal Case No. 14307514, the amount of bail is set at
P50,000; in Criminal Case Nos. 14307515 and 14-307517 for two counts
of qualified theft, bail is set at P44,000
for each count; in Criminal Case
Nos. 14-307516, 14-307518, and 14307520 for three counts of qualified
theft, the amount of bail is P40,000 for
each count; in Criminal Case Nos. 14307519, 14-307521, 14-307523, and
14-307524; and lastly P46,000 is the
required amount of bail for Criminal
Case No. 14-307522.
As of press time, Gambe has
not yet been placed in custody nor
surrendered to authorities.
Sa nagnanais magkaroon nito, ito’y mabibili ito sa Norwegian Training
Center-Manila (NTCM) o kaya’y tumawag sa numerong (0918) 9090083 o magpadala ng pribadong mensahe sa: jamemorales@yahoo.com
/ bhs_pubhouse@yahoo.com
Lubos na gumagalang,
Jaime B. Morales, CME,MSBM
TINIG NG MARINO
DOLE beats MARINA in assesing
MLC compliance of 9,000 domestic ships?
45
by Kidon Alcober
T
he labor department, risking
usurpation of vested powers
given to Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) under a new
law as sole maritime authority, has
begun inspection of domestic sea
carriers for compliance with the internationally recognized Maritime
Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda
Baldoz said at least 60,000 Filipino
seafarers could soon look forward
to safer sea travel after her agency
has completed its assessment.
Baldoz did not say how
this would impact on sea passengers who end up dead when ship
operations go haywire. Baldoz said
they will begin the assessment of
the first two local ships to ensure
they pass MLC standards.
She said at least 17 Philippine
domestic ships have applied for the is-
suance of certificate of compliance.
“This is the first time we
will be inspecting domestic ships…
Now, we are beginning to enforce
its (MLC) provisions to provide our
seafarers decent work,” Baldoz said.
“Hopefully this will minimize sea accidents,” she added.
Baldoz said the inspection will cover the 8,981 Philippine registered
ships in domestic shipping except
warships, naval auxiliaries, government ships, and fishing vessels.
DOLE and its partner organizations have earlier prioritized
the two-phase evaluation of Philippine-registered ships (PRS), which
travel in international waters.
“We are almost over with
the overseas (ships). We are now
focusing on domestic ships,” Baldoz said.
As of August 15, Baldoz
said 140 PRS have presented the
necessary MLC requirements and
have been issued with the Decla-
ration of Maritime Labor Compliance (DMLC) by DOLE for the
first part of the evaluation.
She said another 96 PRS
have completed the assessment and
received their Maritime Labor Certificate (MLC).
“With these developments,
we are on track in the implementation of the MLC 2006, the vital instrument which affords protection
to approximately 368,158 overseas
Filipino seafarers,” Baldoz said.
Baldoz issued the update yesterday,
a year after the ratification of the
MLC 2006.
The MLC of 2006 requires
the 61 International Labor Organization (ILO) member states,
which include the Philippines, to
comply with the stipulated “comprehensive welfare and protection” for seafarers worldwide.
46
TINIG NG MARINO
Tuna industry smells something
‘fishy’ in delay of IRR
by Kidon Alcober
T
una industry players have
scored the failure of government agencies to issue the implementing rules and regulations
(IRR) for Republic Act (RA)
9379, the law governing the handline fishing sector enacted seven years ago.
In a press conference
over the weekend for the 16th
National Tuna Congress, industry stakeholders expressed their
frustration over the inaction of
the Department of Agriculture
(DA) and the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DoTC) in finalizing the
law’s implementing guidelines.
“It’s frustrating that after seven years, we’re still waiting for
the IRR to come out,” Rosanna
from page 40
A Congress Of, For...
provide compulsory benefits set by
the MLC, 2006 will be discussed in
length by Cong. Aglipay. The Modern Technology in Seafaring Industry will be presented by Mr. Spyro
Ravanapolus, COO of Michaelmar
Philippines Inc. Current issues on
maritime piracy will be discussed
by Mr. Rancho Villavicencio, Director Maritime Piracy Humanitarian
Response Programme –Asia. Philippine Merchant Marine Academy
Rear Adm. Richard U. Ritual will
talk about “Compliance and Requirements of Maritime Schools,”
such topic the latest trending in the
maritime linkage.
Consequently, an open forum is ready and open to all participants to freely express their
opinions, raise questions, seek explanation, resolve conflicts and raise
awareness on the issues and challenges facing the industry that catapulted the country in the world’s
record of competent merchant mariners; and the the sea-based Filipi-
Bernadette B. Contreras, executive director of the Soccsksargen
Federation of Fishing and Allied
Industries, Inc. (SFFAII), told reporters in Filipino.
Former president Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA
9379 on March 8, 2007.
Marfinio Y. Tan, former
SFFAII president, hit the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), an attached agency of the
DoTC, for the delay in the issuance of the IRR.
“We’ve been waiting for
that IRR… The problem is actually with Marina, they’re not giving focus on it,” Tan said in the
same press conference.
Given the situation, SFFAII is lobbying for a seat in the
board of Marina to hasten action
on policies involving the industry.
Tan said the private sector group can also help explain
things to the government agency
if problems involving the handline fishing sector arise if they
are on Marina’s
board.
R a u l
Gonzales,
spokesman
of
the Alliance of
Tuna Handliners
(ATH) said that
in the absence of
the IRR, fishing
vessels have been
prone to apprehension by maritime authorities.
no workers, as the highest grosser
in terms of financial contributions
to the economy, benchmarking a
$2.746 billion during the first semester of the year and is expected
to hit the remittances from Filipino
seafarers to $5.5 billion this year.
Resolutions on matters that are
dissected in this annual seafarers’
congress will be summed up at the
culmination of the meeting.
This year’s theme is, “Innovating our way to Progress”. The
organizers’ seek to promote the interest of the industry, particularly
the industry’s most important asset
of all – the Filipino seafarers.
They aim to empower the
Filipino seafarers with relevant
and accurate information. With
the organizers’ unwavering commitment to give Filipino seafarers
and the general maritime public
relevant, accurate and quality information that they deserve, the
event is expected to be a real industry humdinger. They also seek
to promote the interest of the industry, particularly the industry’s
most important asset of all – the
Filipino seafarers. As with the pre-
vious years’ tally , some 2,000 seafarers attended the event, and the
volume is increasing.
The UFS start up the 4th
Seafarers’ Congress with a jovial
motorcade from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00
a.m., participated in by several shipmanning agencies and maritime
organizations, sponsors and media
partners. Participants will assemble
at the LUSWELF, T.M. Kalaw St., at
5 o’clock in the morning.
Other much-awaited activities to be held at the LUSWELF
ground during the week-long maritime celebration are the following:
Boodle Fight, a military ceremonial “eat-together with
bare hands”
that signifies brotherhood on
SEPTEMBER
24,
2014 that
will start at
11:45 AM;
Consultation on Legislation with
“If we have the IRR, we can avoid
these apprehensions,” he said.
Handline fishing is a traditional method that employs
hook-and-line to catch large,
mature tuna, including the sashimi-grade kind.
Congressman Walden Bello, OFW
Partylist on September 25 at 10:00
a.m, and the Karaoke Challenge Finals on September 26 at 10:00 a,m,
with Entertainment and Raffle of
Prizes in between the program provided by the sponsors.
Presidential Proclamation
1094 series of 1997 declared that
every last Sunday of September of
every year as National Seafarers’
Day (NSD), which amended Presidential Proclamation No. 828 series
of 1996. It was created to recognize
the major role of the Filipino seafarers in the local and global maritime
industry.
48
TINIG NG MARINO
W
ay back in 1984 after my
stint in Europe, I was surprised that all seafarers in the
country were required to take the
Basic Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS)
course. As a good soldier, I have to
follow what is required by the law.
The funny thing during that time,
when you would inquire the front
desk clerks of the training centers,
the first question asked was, how
do you like it, sir, with or without
attendance. In most cases, the seafarers would choose the latter.
Nowadays, I believe the
non-attendance is still being practiced. I know that there are some
training centers that are having
classes at 10 in the evening. That
is according to their records. No
matter how you will explain this
to me, I won’t bite a story like this
hook line and sinker. I won’t believe that there are seafarers who
will be taking maritime courses
Unfair Trade Practices
by Jeremiah Philip Patrimonio
from seven in the morning up to
10 in the evening.
As a saying goes, if you
give peanuts, you’ll get monkeys.
How can a training center offer a
Basic Safety Training for less than
Php4,000 when the expenses for
every trainee is around Php 4,000?
Do you want me to believe that the
owner of this training center is a
philanthropist? It’s either you will
have a volume of 200 students taking the same course together and
the instructor will just demonstrate the usage of foam and Co2
in extinguishing a fire. No hands
on training for every student.
There are also stories
that there are maritime training
centers who are giving lectures in
one room with two courses. The
appropriate man-machine ratio is
never implemented in the number
of Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA) vis a vis the number of trainees at any given time.
The same thing with the number of firefighting outfits vis a vis
the number of trainees, number
of simulator or stations vis a vis
number of trainees.
LIFESavers AT SEA
by Engr. Rainero B. Morgia, MScEnv
F
rom the Boy Scout motto “always be prepared”, the best way
to face an emergency at sea is to be
prepared for it. Therefore it is good
to know this life-saving information
even to those who are planning to
make a sea travel in the future (domestic or international).
In times of sea emergency,
the smallest of things may become
the greatest saver. They are what we
call maritime life-saving appliances
(LSA) or equipment and its accessories. These life savers, although they
only make-up 10 percent of the entire
ship’s cost and structure, they become
100 percent of the entire ship’s dependability in a most likely event of
disaster, mishap, fire, collision and all
other types of emergencies.
In reality, we wish that these
life-saving equipment may never be
used during the entire serviceability
of the ship.
These life-saving equipment
are mostly lifeboats, life rafts, life jackets, immersion suits, lifebuoys, survival kits and other accessories. To
choose the right equipment at the
outset, all aspects have to be consid-
ered – from design, quality and maintenance. For when it comes to life-saving equipment, the advice you get is
just as important as the products.
Generally, and with reference to the LSA Code, they must be
constructed with proper workmanship and materials, not damaged in
stowage throughout a various range of
temperature (-30C to 65C), and where
applicable not rot-proof, corrosion-resistant, and not be unduly affected by
seawater, oil or fungal attacks, can
withstand temperature range from -1C
to 30C when immersed in seawater,
resistant to sunlight, be highly visible
color (orange or red orange) on all
parts for easy detection, and be clearly marked with approved information.
They have to be class-approved.
LIFEBOATS
According to Wikipedia, a lifeboat “is a kind of boat that is used to
escape a larger sinking structure such
as a cruise ship, commercial vessel or
aircraft that has landed in water.”
All lifeboats shall be of such
forms and proportions (totally enclosed lifeboats are now being used
and mandatory) that they should be
stable in a seaway and sufficient freeboard when loaded with their full
complement of persons and equipment. All lifeboats shall have rigid
hulls and shall be capable of maintaining positive stability when in an
upright position in calm water and
loaded with their full complement of
persons and equipment and holed in
any location below the waterline, assuming no loss of buoyancy material
no other damage.
Each lifeboat shall be fitted
with a class approved certificate and
containing at least the manufacturer’s name and address, model and
number, month and year of manufacture, number of approved-persons
capacity (most common are 10, 16 or
25 person- capacity ), boat markings,
and of course the necessary lifeboat
equipment, survival kit, first aid and
emergency signs.
LIFE RAFTS
A life raft is a piece of
life-saving safety equipment which is
TINIG NG MARINO
49
SVBB celebrates
38th anniversary
T
he Philippines is considered
a major supplier of maritime
labor globally. Per POEA data,
367,166 Filipino seafarers were deployed abroad in 2013, comprising
almost 30 percent of the global
maritime labor force.
Given the important role
of Filipino seafarers, the Sapalo
Velez Bundang Bulilan (SVBB) law
offices remains to be one of the
leading movers advocating seafarers’ rights through initiatives
showcasing its commitment to the
principle of social justice. SVBB celebrated its 38th year on August 1,
2014 at the Makati Sports Club.
The SVBB cooperates with
various stakeholders in ensuring
better protection and more benefits for seafarers, often working
with government and non-government agencies. Ably supported by an excellent staff, it responds
to seafarer matters requiring legal
expertise and assists seafarers in
the prosecution of their cases.
The SVBB has played an
instrumental role in assisting families of those who perished in the
tragic sinking of several vessels in
transit namely the “MV Sea Pine” in
October 1978 in Japan, the “MV Antiparos” in January 1981 in South
America, the “MV Elma Tres” in
November 1981 in Germany, and
the “MT Maasguar” in March 1989
also in Japan. The SVBB likewise
assisted in facilitating the claims of
seafarers who died or were injured
during the sinking of the oil rig “DB
29” in the South China Sea in August 1991.
Taking its vision of championing seafarers’ rights to heart,
the firm,entered a formal collaboration in 2005 with the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS)-Philippines,
an office of the Episcopal Commission of Pastoral Care of Migrants
and Itinerant people (ECMI) of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines.
The SVBB also participates in the activities of various
maritime organizations, unions
and non-government organizations such as the United Filipino
Seafarers (UFS), Ph Maritime Law
Association of the Philippines
(MARLAW), and Luneta Seafarers
Welfare Foundation (LUSWELF),
Bantay OCW, Sailors Society, the
local CBCP Migrants desks and
the different seafarers’ families/
wives organizations to promote
the well-being of seafarers and the
working class as a whole.
SVBB likewise believes
that the best way to afford legal
protection to seafarers is for them
to be informed of their legal rights.
SVBB carries this out through lectures on seafarers’ welfare and
legal rights in maritime schools,
organizations, seafarers’ dormitories, and parishes all over the Philippines and through legal publications and radio programs. SVBB’s
Atty. Augusto R. Bundang is a col-
umnist of Tinig ng Marino.
During the past 19 years,
SVBB has been actively participating in the annual AOS-led National
Seafarers Day (NSD) which is celebrated during the last Sunday of
September through various activi-
ties nationwide, including but not
limited to the holding of a grand
parade ecumenical mass, memorial at sea, oratorical contest, and
the search for the top ten maritime
students of the Philippines. SVBB
is part of the NSD committee.
20th
Anniversary
Search for Outstanding
Tinig ng Marino Awards 2014
Outstanding Manning Agency
Outstanding Maritime School
Outstanding Training Center
Outstanding Master Mariner
Outstanding Marine Engineer
Outstanding Public Service
Outstanding Maritime Safety
Outstanding in Marine
Environmental Protection
Email your nominatios at ufs_07@yahoo.com or npr.ufs@gmail.com
Awarding will be on December 2014
TINIG NG MARINO
51
No holds Barred Maritime Radio Program.
Tinig ng Marino on air every Sunday at Radyo Inquirer 990AM band from 10 a.m. to 11 am.
NPR and the UFS boys together with Satur Ocampo during the Abolish Pork
Barrel and 6 Million signature campaign in Luneta during the National Heroes
Day celebration.
Prominent figures of batch 67 during the birthday of their bunkmate Capt. Reynaldo Casareo, president of Cargo Safeway Inc. From let to right: Capt. Deo Tuñacao, Capt. Sonny Cuevas, NPR, Capt. Vic Sanches, Capt. Rey Casareo, Capt.
Rolly Solda, Rear Admiral Fidel Dinioso, Capt. Danny Balanay, Rear Admiral Doming Estera and Capt. Ernie Fidelino.
Interview with GMA7 Reporter’s Note Book on Maritime Disasters in the
Philippines which was aired September 19, 2014.
NPR with Capt. Edith Vera (PCGA) (third from the left) president of Negros NPR together with the executives of MLC during the first anniversary of Maritime Labour Convention
Maritime College Foundation Inc. during the 20th Anniversary of NMCFI and of the country and its formal compliance held at AMOSUP Convention Center.
her birthday.
NPR as expert witness together with the families of the victims of MV Princess of NPR with the Attorneys of Sapalo Velez Bundang and Bulilan Law firm, the official UFS legal partthe Stars of Suplicio Line (now Philippine Span Asia Corp.) during the hearing versus ner since 1994. From left to right: Atty. Romeo Duran, Atty. Romeo Fortea, Atty. Neptali Bulilan,
Atty. Dennis Gorecho, NPR, Atty. Ignacio “ Champ” Sapalo and Atty. Augusto Bundang
Sulpicio Line at Cebu City.
52
TINIG NG MARINO
Onli In Da
PILIPINS
What? What!?
We do not allow overloading of passenger ships.
The franchise and certificate of
convenience will be
CANCELLED IMMEDIATELY.
Walang bolahan sa MARINA.
CROSS MY HEART!
TransPOORtations
Soichiro Honda
Wakaranai!!!
I invented
motorsaykor
in Japang onri
DARAWANG
GURONG.
Piriping make
TATRONG
GURONG
and make
business.
TAKSANG
passengers.
MARINA Administrator Maximo Mejia Jr.
Walaaaaaaaaaaaa nga!!!!
Walang CCTV sa NAIA Terminal 3.
Kung mababaril ka sa NAIA Terminal 3,
hindi malalaman kung sino ang bumaril sa iyo.....
Hindi ba sumubsob ang nguso ng eroplanong yan????
Ang ibig sabihin niyan. Ayos naman. Hindi naman nasunog.
NAIA GM Angel Honrado
Sinungaling yan si
Ambassador Josef Rychtar.
Hindi kami pamilya ng mangongotong!
Lahat ng MRT ay maayos ang
maintenance.
Tignan ninyo yan.
Hindi ba MAAYOS yan? Magsalita kayo!
Former MRT GM Al Vitangcol III
Ang Willys Jeep ay dinala ng mga amerikano
sa bansa noong World War II. Nagulat ang
mga beteranong kano nang makita nila kung
ano ang ginawa natin sa kanilang jeep.
Sosyal ano? kaya nga. ONLI IN DA PILIPINS.
TINIG NG MARINO
CSOs launch anti-trafficking summits with
help from Dutch Embassy, IACAT
T
hree civil society organizations (CSOs) are launching
three regional and sectoral summits against human trafficking in
partnership with the Embassy of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for the last quarter
of this year.
These three CSOs are the
Blas F. Ople Policy Center (BFOC),
International Justice Mission (IJM)
and the Visayan Forum Foundation,
Inc. (VFFI), which represent the
OFW, child, and women’s sectors in
IACAT, respectively.
“The Netherlands Embassy
takes great pride in having this partnership with the three NGOs at
the forefront of the fight against
human trafficking in the Philippines. Through this summit, we
hope to bring together members
of civil society, including those
organizations that are working
at the grassroot levels, and learn
how we can all work together towards the common goal of fighting human trafficking,” Charge d’
Affaires Joop Scheffers of the Netherlands Embassy said.
The first summit which
kicked off on Aug.29-29 at traders’
Hotel, Pasay City focused on how
technology can help prevent and detect human trafficking, particularly
among Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFWs) who often fall victims of
trafficking in persons and illegal recruitment.
An expert from Dutch government, Arjan Verhagen who serves
as Thematic Liason Officer of Dutch
government shares his country’s experience in dealing with the online
child exploitation, and technology
firms have been invited to showcase
their products and services so that
anti-trafficking advocates can see
how these may be used to advance
their cause.
IACAT member-agencies,
such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the National Bureau of Investigation and
the Philippine National Police discussed their respective online-based
campaigns agaisnt illegal recruitment and human trafficking and
53
introduced its national hotline 1343
through the commission on Filipinos Overseas.
Justice Undersecretary Jose
Vicente Salazar, in-charge of IACA,
said the CSO summits once again
highlight the Philippine’s relentless
anti-human trafficking campaign
which is anchored on a multi-seccontinued on page 55
54
TINIG NG MARINO
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
NOTICE OF REWARD
DECKMASTER MARINE SOFTWARES, INC. is
the registered copyright owner of LoadMan
and BridgeMan computer software programs.
A Reward of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00) will
be given to anyone whose information will lead to the
apprehension of any person who sells or distributes
pirated LoadMan and/or BridgeMan Programs.
Persons who purchase, sell or distribute
unauthorized or pirated copies of said
computer software programs can and will be
criminally prosecuted in accordance with
Article 217 of the Intellectual Property Code of
the Philippines.
ALCUDIA LAW OFFICE
Counsel for Deckmaster Marine
A Reward of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00) will
be given to anyone whose information will lead to the
apprehension of any person who uses
pirated
LoadMan and/or BridgeMan Programs.
The information received shall be treated with utmost
confidentiality.
Please Contact:
Deckmaster Marine
Mobile:
0917 591 6901
Landline: 788 9124
E-mail:
enelcarter@gmail.com
from page 53
CSOs launch antitrafficking summits...
toral approach involving partnership
with other countries like The Netherlands, collaboration with other
government agencies, and tie-ups
with non-government organizations.
Technology firms, such as
Viber, Microsoft, Orange Apps, and
social advocacy movement, Change.
Org, among others, have been invited to participate on the technology
and anti-trafficking summit.
from page 40
Seizure of Ships Used for
Mass...
US Marine Corps Gen.
John F. Kelly says that countries like
Canada, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands and France have been
providing aircrafts and vessels to aid
in the efforts to seize drug-carrying
vessels on the high seas. He adds
that the governments of Colombia,
Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, and
El Salvador have been “unbelievable partners’ as well, doing what
they can to destroy illicit shipments
before it can be sent out of their respective jurisdictions.
Filipino seafarers are not
typically involved in reported largescale drug trafficking operations,
until more than eight years later, the
Martinique incident is still the most
recent one that comes to mind. On
March 22, 2006, French Navy and
custom officials arrested and detained 11 Filipino seamen after discovering 1.8 tons of cocaine hidden
in the water tank of the M/V Master
Endeavor. Captain Lee Macoy, along
with crewmembers Ramil Aguilar,
Porferio Atienza, Christopher Baylosis, Joseph Cosare, Basilio Cuyos,
Johnny Galapon, Reynaldo Galedo, Samuel Lubiano, Hermogenes
Misa and Efren Nillos were all found
guilty by the French court and sentenced to prison terms ranging from
5 to 14 years. Upon the instruction
of the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA), the Philippine Embassy in
Paris was able to effect the repatriation of five of these seafarers in 2010.
Efforts for the reduction of sentences
and the earlier release of the others
continue up to the present.
The two summit will be
hosted by IJM and VFFI in October
and November 2014 in Iloilo and
Davao, respectively. IJM focuses on
child trafficking while VFFI represents the women’s sector in IACAT.
In each summit, renowned
experts in the field have been invited
to shed light on the situation of human trafficking in the Philippines to
keep advocates abreast on emerging
trends and challenges.
Representative from the
member-agencies of IACAT which
is mandated to prevent and combat
trafficking are also expected to attend
TINIG NG MARINO
the summit in order to give the participants updated reports on the national government’ program on TIP.
The summits are expected
to enhance and strengthen cooperation among the CSOs dedicated
in preventing and combating labor,
women and child trafficking not
only through referrals and exchanges of information on best practices,
but also, in discussing future projects
and possible collaborations with IACAT and the Dutch Embassy.
The Netherlands has forged
a strong partnership with the Philippine government and Philippine civ-
55
il society in the field of anti-human
trafficking advocacy.
“Human trafficking inflicts
severe and often long lasting harm
on the most vulnerable people of
our societies, frequently undetected
and concealed to mainstream society. Thus, partnership and cooperation constitute an integral part of
anti-trafficking policies and their
implementation, both on a national and international level, to make
information more accessible and
services to victims and potential
victims readily-available”, scheffers
added.
TINIG NG MARINO
56
Dare the difference!
W
hat is the big difference between Tinig ng Marino and
other maritime newspapers?
It’s helluva lot of a difference. In terms of volume and
readership reach, Tinig ng Marino can stand and challenge all
other maritime papers including the glossy ones as to which is
widely circulated or attained an optimum pass-on readership.
The 2 Philippine Seafarer Congress
nd - OCTOBER 2012
SEPTEMBER
Vol. XVIII
No.5
http:www.ufs.com.ph
TINIG NG MARINO
1
p32
PHP 20.00
Philippines ratifies
Maritime Labour
Convention
Story on page 3
Danita
Paner
Alternative
Princess
TURN TO PAGE 40
As the biggest and the widest in circulation, it can take
any challenge by counting the number of copies that Tinig has
printed for each issue. It also reaches the various corners of
the world where Filipino seafarers set sail and confront the
high seas.
Over the years, Tinig has been consistent on the issues it
has fought for, particularly on its advocacy to inform the public
about the real things that is happening in the industry.
It has fearlessly published what other maritime papers
have failed to do. As it exposes anomalies, it also publishes
the good things about this dynamic sector.
Most of Tinig articles are even exclusive because we are
there where the action is -- as one of the players in the industry.
Being the official publication of the United Filipino Seafarers,
Tinig ng Marino has been influential in the the many changes
occurring in the country’s maritime industry. The evidence can
be easily verified by browsing the UFS website.
It need not engage in cutthroat competition by bringing
advertisement rate down and employing sexy marketing
managers. Tinig clients knew they get their money’s worth.
It would be unfair to compare Tinig ng Marino to other
maritime newspapers just as if one were comparing a choice
between Rolls Royce and a Kia Pride.
Season’s Greetings
Vol. XVIII
No.6
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2012
http:www.ufs.com.ph
PHP 20.00
Seafarers hail
congress a success
Story on page 3
TIN PATRIMONIO
A real
sweetheart
ENTERTAINMENT
►PAGE
42
TNM Exclusive:
Unholy
Alliance 4
►PAGE 22
from page 42
Families of SEWOL...
that was estimated to have been attended by 800,000 (including some
non-Catholics impressed by Francis’
humble leadership), the pope made
a stop by a group of SEWOL tragedy families staying in what had been
left of their dismantled camp. Eyewitnesses said that he climbed down
from his vehicle and greeted Kim
Young-Oh, a grieving father who has
been on hunger strike for more than
a month like the other relatives. After
pressing the pope’s hand to his forehead several times, Kim handed the
pope a letter which the latter accepted and kept in his pocket.
Other relatives also had
a chance to exchange a few words
with the pontiff during the 10-minute face-to-face encounter. In the
end, the pope gave each a hug and
a kiss in farewell with a promise that
he will remember their stories.
At the altar itself, Francis
offered a special prayer after celebrating the Assumption Mass: “May
the Lord welcome the dead into his
peace, console those who mourn,
and continue to sustain those who
so generously came to the aid of their
brothers and sisters. May this tragic
event, which has brought all Koreans
together in grief, confirm their commitment to work together in solidarity for the common good.”
The MV Sewol ferry capsized enroute from Incheon to Jeju
on April 15, 2014. Of the 476 people
onboard, more than 300 died while
around 172 were rescued by fishing
boats and commercial vessels which
arrived first on the scene. Many of
the victims were high school students from Danwon High School.
The direct causes for the capsizing
are assumed to be overloading and
failure to properly secure cargo. Dur-
TINIG NG MARINO
ing the fatal journey, the MV Sewol
was found to have been carrying
more than three times her limit, and
only one-fourth of her recommended ballast weight. The ferry was on a
frequently travelled route in familiar
waters, which were calm at that time.
While the area was relatively close to
shore, it was free of rocks and reefs.
The most unacceptable part
about the tragedy was that the loss of
so many could have been prevented
had the crew attempted to evacuate
the mostly under-aged passengers
rather than jump ship to save themselves. Some media reports say that
the vessel took a sharp turn which
caused its cargo to shift, and the vessel to start listing.
A surviving crewman reported that after spending 30 minutes to right the ship when it started
listing, Sewol’s captain, Lee Joonseok agreed that it was time to abandon ship but did not see to it that the
57
order was communicated to passengers. Instead, he abandoned his
command about two minutes after
determining that the ship could no
longer be righted and there was rescue footage showing his early flight.
Meanwhile, ship communication officer Kang Hae-seong told
passengers to remain where they
were to prevent panic. Orders repeatedly blared over the public address
system exhorted everyone to stay in
their cabins and below decks even as
the vessel slowly sank. For almost an
hour, the water gradually rose as the
students dutifully obeyed.
Lee and three other officers
are facing criminal charges for homicide through willful negligence.
They will face the death penalty if
found guilty. Eleven other crewmembers are charged with counts
of negligence and abandoning ship,
offenses which can land them many
years in prison.
58
TINIG NG MARINO
by Alvin
Patrimonio
Prominent Seafarers
Engage in Sports
On the greens
of the golf courses
after sailing on the
wide blue oceans
NPR, Erick Lauren, Vice Admiral Tolentino, Capt. Danny Tampus and
caddies Gina Tolentino and Arlene Amparo at the greens of Eagle Ridge
Marine
Septuagenarian
runner finishes
42K run
Capt. Reynaldo Casareo,
president of Cargo Safeway Inc.
(CSI), finished 42 K run of the
18th National Milo Marathon
last July 27, 2014.
Out of 2541 runners, who
made it to the cut of time, Capt.
Casareo ranked 2462 and belongs
to the only two septuagenarian (70
years and up) finisher with the chip
time of six hours and one minute.
Likewise, 66 of his trainees out of 90 who registered (Marine under graduates) finished
Capt. Rey Casareo
the 42K at five hours and below
which is the CSI simple requirements.
Capt. Casareo is scheduled to run in the prestigious Tokyo International Marathon in February 2015.
from page 48
Unfair Trade practices
Capt. Jess Morales after a full swing
on the tee
NPR’s signature swing
The sunbaggers before the start of the game
Vice Admiral Tolentino on the full
swing shot
Erick Lauren goes for the longest
drive
The cut throat competition has produced indecent result where rebates have become a
malady, a sine qua non in almost
every training center rather than
an exception of the rule. Declared
instructors/assessors in the enrolment reports are actually on board
a ship and currently sailing in the
Pacific Ocean but his shadow or
his spirit still appears in the training center giving lectures.
Tinig Ng Marino suggests
that a CCTV must be installed in
every training center that can be
monitored by MARINA personnel
24/7 even if the training center is
located in the province. If we apply this system, I believe, there
will be no more training centers
giving lectures in the wee hours of
the night. This rotten system must
be stopped now. Stop unfair trade
practice.
TINIG NG MARINO
59
APO, MARINA Submit
Counter Affidavit on SIRB Case filed by NPR
I
n the interest of fair play, we are
pleased to inform the reading public of the recent developments on the
cases filed by UFS against MARINA
and APO in connection with the delayed delivery of the Seafarer’s Identification and Record Books (SIRB).
On July 17, 2014, Mr. Jaime
Hemedes Aldaba, executive vice president and general manager of APO
Production Unit, submitted his answer to the complaint filed by TNM’s
Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez on May 8,
2014. In his counter-affidavit, Mr.
Aldaba claims that the allegations
against him are “false, totally unsubstantiated, and are patently speculative
and conjectural.”
APO Production Unit was
the duly-qualified printer engaged
by MARINA and is therefore solely
responsible for the printing and delivery of the SIRB and stickers for fiscal year 2014. In his affidavit, Aldaba
proudly proclaims that his company
is a “recognized government printer”
that is duly authorized to undertake
the printing of accountable forms,
sensitive, high quality or high volume
printing requirements for the government.“ He also claims that APO
and MARINA “have an established
business relationship for the past six
years, emphasizing the fact that APO
has supplied MARINA with a total
of 130,000 SIRBs in 2008 and 2009
alone”.
If we are to believe his claim
of efficiency, then who should be held
liable for the delayed delivery of the
SIRB? Who should take the blame
for the paper print-out issued by
MARINA in lieu of the actual SIRB?
This SIRB fiasco has made our Filipino seafarers the laughing stock of
the maritime industry aside from exposing our countrymen to the perils
of forced unemployment.
Aldaba narrated that it was
on January 23, 2014 that APO received the Request for Quotation
(RFQ) dated January 20, 2014 from
MARINA. “The 2014 RFQ states that
the MARINA needed 200,000 SIRBs
and stickers, and asked APO to quote
[our] lowest price therefore. The 2014
RFQ was accompanied by a docu-
by Atty. Elviro “Jun” C. Perez II
ment entitled Procurement of Seafarer’s Identification and Record Book
(SIRB) and Stickers of the Maritime
and Industry Authority for FY 2014
Technical Specification and Terms of
Reference (TOR) dated January 13,
2014. The 2014 TOR identified the approved budget for the contract (which
was P60,000,000.00) and prescribed
the specifications for the SIRBs and
stickers as well as the schedule for the
deliveries thereof.”
Aldaba said that APO submitted its Offer to Print in response
to the 2014 RFQ on February 3,
2014. “APO stated that it could deliver the 200,000 SIRBs and stickers to
the MARINA at the price of P295.00
per booklet, or for the aggregate sum
of P59,000,000.00. Thus, not only was
APO’s quotation within the MARINA’s
approved budget of P60,000,000.00, it
even incorporated or factored in savings for the MARINA in the sum of
P1,000,000.00.
In a glaring display of selective recollection, Aldaba purposely
omitted the evaluation made by the
BAC-TWG (Bids and Awards Committee, Technical Working Group) on
the bids submitted by APO and NPO
(National Printing Office). The evaluation indicated that APO did not
submit the delivery schedule, where
the BAC-TWG gave them a “0” rating.
The evaluation was contained in a BAC-TWG Memorandum
dated February 4, 2014 which forms
part of the joint counter-affidavit
submitted by Dr. Maximo Q. Mejia, et
al. on July 11, 2014. APO’s failure to
submit the proposed delivery sched-
ule in its bid should have raised a red
flag. This fact alone proves that APO
is unsure of its competence to provide a certain date for the delivery of
the SIRB.
Despite this deficiency, MARINA decided to award the contract
to APO on the basis of APO being
the lowest bidder which will generate
a measly savings of P1,000,000.00 for
MARINA. All told, the lowest bidder
who “factored in savings for the MARINA in the sum of P1,000,000.00”
did more harm than good. If APO
was confident, given its track record
on the printing of SIRBs for MARINA in 2008 and 2009, why then did
they not submit a delivery schedule
in their Offer to Print?
Article 1339 of the Civil
Code of the Philippines states that
“Failure to disclose facts, when there
is a duty to reveal them, as when the
parties are bound by confidential relations, constitutes fraud.”
According to the Memorandum of Agreement between
APO and MARINA, the stipulated
delivery schedule of the first 40,000
(which was 20 percent) of the SIRBs
and stickers was supposed to start on
February 26, 2014. Aldaba however claims that “I signed the MOA on
behalf of APO on February 27, 2014.
APO received the MARINA’s Notice to
Proceed dated February 7, 2014, which
directed APO to proceed immediately
with the printing and delivery of the
SIRBs and stickers also on February
27, 2014. Considering the impossibility of following the February 26, 2014
delivery date for the first 40,000 SIRBs
and stickers, APO instead undertook
to deliver 100,000 SIRBs and stickers
to the MARINA on April 15, 2014”.
The contract is the law between the parties. Considering that
the MOA between the MARINA and
APO was signed only on Feb. 27,
2014, it follows then that APO knew
beforehand that they will definitely
renege on the initial batch of 40,000
SIRBs that was expected to be delivered on February 26, 2014. Why did
APO not raise the issue of the delivery of the first 40,000 copies of the
SIRB? Why did APO sign the MOA
despite “the impossibility of following
the February 26, 2014 delivery date for
the first 40,000 SIRBs and stickers?”
Under the circumstances, the most
prudent thing that APO should have
done was to ask for the reformation
of the contract, which was the MOA
between the MARINA and APO.
“Reformation is a remedy in
equity by means of which a written instrument is made or construed so as to
express or conform to the real intention
of the parties when some error or mistake has been committed.” (53 Corpus
Juris 906)
According to the Civil Code
of the Philippines, “When, there having been a meeting of the minds of the
parties to a contract, their true intention is not expressed in the instrument
purporting to embody the agreement,
by reason of mistake, fraud, inequitable conduct or accident, one of the parties may ask for the reformation of the
instrument to the end that such true
intention may be expressed. x x x (Art.
1359, Par. 1)“
Aldaba argued strongly that
no criminal liability arises from the
delays APO incurred in delivering
the SIRBs. He candidly admitted that
“I do not deny that APO was unable to
deliver the required number of SIRBs
to the MARINA for two delivery periods [a total of 100,000 SIRBs, 40,000 of
which should have been delivered on or
before February 26, 2014, and 60,000
of which should have been delivered on
or before April 15, 2014]. However, as I
explained at paragraphs 19-21 above,
60
TINIG NG MARINO
M.T. PRINCESS CRYSTAL
Online
Share ko lang experience ko sa SIMS
sa pagkuha ng BT CERTIFICATE
noong September 8, 2014.
Sabado palang, Sept 6 2014
tapos na ako mag practicum sa cavite,..
then monday daw ang release ng mga
certificate.. so punta ako with my colleagues monday early morning.. We’ve
been there 7am palang.. yung iba ko
kasama 5am palang andun na,.. binigyan
kami ng queuing number around 7am..
9am na wala pang nirerelease na BT
certificate! Nung nagtanong kami, hindi
pa daw napipirmahan ng president ng
SIMS (Southerm Institure of Marime
Studies), balik nalang daw kami after
lunch 1:30pm..(Kung hindi pa kami
magtatanong, hindi pa nila sasabihin).
Bumalik kami ng 1:30pm gaya
ng sabi nila,..naghintay kami, hanggang
2pm.. nung lumapit kami sa releasing,wala pa daw pirma.. kung hindi pa
namin tinaasan ng boses hindi pa sila
aakyat sa head nila... sa wakas nag release sila! pero pa isa isa! ang masama pa
neto, una pa nabigyan ang mga 12nn na
dumating!!! tinanong ko,.. bakit ganon?
diba may number? di nila masagot..
walang masabi at hindi namamansin..
yung kasama ko na 5am palang andun
na sa SIMS nabigyan ng BT CERTIFI-
Southern Institute of
Maritime Studies
CATE 3:30 ng hapon.. pagdating ng mga
BT CERT namin ng 4pm, kulang kulang
na! walang ER at TCROA! yung mga
unang nabigyan, kumpleto ang release
sakanila! nagalit ako at tumaas ang boses
ko, hindi nila masabi ang dahilan kung
bakit walang TCROA, ang sabi lang nila
nagkaproblema daw.. BADTRIP LEV- From left to right: O/S Jayson Garcia, C/Ck Sammil Completo, OLR Ian DominEL 99%! kulang kulang na nga, hindi pa go, 3/O Jeromy Guilaran, AB Ricky Pinalber, AB Victorino Manua, AB Vibiano
Palapas, OLR Jessie Ajoc, 3AE Cesar Caliwan
marunong maghandle ng mga complain
ng mga trainees! umakyat ako at sumu- Hindi po sila mga patay. Sila po ay ang mga bagong
god sa 2nd floor sa office nila at sinabi
ko bakit naman ganon?! agad akong bayani natin na pumipila sa MARINA tuwing umaga!
nilapitan ng isang babae at pinapasok
ako sa office nila sa loob at binigyan ako
ng TCROA..( kung hindi ka marunong
dumiskarte, gagawin ka nilang tanga at
pababalik-balikin)..
Bumalik ako sa baba,.. sabi ko,
“AKALA KO BA MAY PROBLEMA
TCROA?” no comment mga nasa releasing....(kawawa yung mga pinabalik kanina, hindi pa rin nabigyan ng TCROA, NA ang nangyari.. madali lang daw AY- MUNTA SA MARINA DAHIL MAY
hindi maka apply ng COP)
USIN yun.. (ang nakakabadtrip, di man INAAYOS PANG GUSOT! SAYANG
Then kanina pumunta ako ng MARINA lang kami ininform na ganun pala eh di ANG PERA, PAGOD AT EFFORT AT
para mag apply ng Seaman’s Book..
sana sa iba nalang kami kumuha ng BT ARAW!!! ANG DAMI PANG DAPAT
ngunit hindi kami nakakuha dahil training, sana hindi sila tumatanggap ng ASIKASUHIN AT MAY PAMILYA PA
suspended daw ang SIMS sa marina mga nag eenroll may issue pala sila sa AKO! NASASAYANG ORAS KO PABsakanila... may issue daw ang license MARINA! at isa pa, PARA SAAN ANG ALIK BALIK SA SIMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
nila.. bumalik kami ng SIMS para CONTACT NUMBER NA INIIWAN
magreklamo, balik nalang daw bukas at NG MGA TRAINEE!!!??!! WALA MAN Yours truly,
pagme-meetingan pa nila daw sa MARI- LANG ADVISE NA WAG MUNA PU- SALVADOR CALIDAYAN
from page 59
APO, Marina submit...
not only has APO been able to “makeup” those deliveries, APO is now on
track to deliver all remaining SIRBs to
the MARINA by September 10, 2014 –
or more than an entire month ahead
of the October 15, 2014 deadline set in
the 2014 MOA.”
Even if APO will be able to
comply by delivering ”all remaining
SIRBs to the MARINA by September 10, 2014 – or more than an entire
month ahead of the October 15, 2014
deadline set in the 2014 MOA”, the
fact remains that they were in breach
of their obligation by failing to meet
the first two delivery periods.
Res ipsa loquitur.
To be continued…
Part 2 shall discuss the joint counter
affidavit of MARINA.
from page 48
LIFEsavers at...
used to provide emergency transportation to get people from a sinking
or endangered vessel. Life rafts are at
least collapsible, in contrast to lifeboats, which are solid.
Typically, life rafts are stored
in their collapsible state and they need
to be regularly inspected to confirm
that they are in compliance and in
good working condition. When passengers get on board a ship, they should
always make sure to determine the location of life rafts and find out if they
have been assigned to a specific life raft
or lifeboat in the event of an emergency. (Our domestic shipping lines and
vessels should take note of this!).
Some life rafts are inflatable.
They are made from durable materials and may have attached inflation
canisters which activate when the tab
is pulled. This design is intended to
ensure that the raft inflates quickly in
an emergency and that the inflation
is easy to perform even if no staff
from the ship are available to assist.
Other life rafts may have collapsible
designs such as sides which can be
folded down when the rafts are not
in use, others are open reversible.
They could either be thrown-overboard or davit-launched life raft. Lastly, every life raft launching appliance
shall comply with the requirements
as survival craft or rescue boat, except with regard to embarkation in
the stowed position, recovery of the
loaded life raft and that manual operation is permitted for turning out the
appliance (LSA Code Reference).
LIFEJACKETS and LIFEVESTS,
LIFEBUOYS
LIFEJACKET is a “safety device designed to keep someone’s nose
and mouth above water should the
person fall overboard.” Lifejackets are
required safety equipment on board
boats and passengers are expected to
wear them or have ready access to
them in the event of emergency.
There are a number of lifejacket designs available for various
applications and they are available
through catalogs and marine equipment suppliers. Lifejackets strap securely to the body with adjustable
straps to hold them snuggly in place,
even when people fall from heights.
Chambers filled with air, foam core,
cork and other light substance force
the person up, keeping the head above
water (SOLAS). Lifejackets protect
people who are unconscious, injured,
or fatigued preventing them from slipping underwater and drowning while
they wait for rescue.
Typically, life jackets are brightly colored to make them easier for rescuers
to spot. Some have beacons designed
to light up when activated, allowing
for nightime rescue and the beacons
can also be fitted with responders to
send a signal to another location. Additional fittings such as small pouches
to hold energy bars or water may be
available for some designs. There are
now motions or proposals to have
lifejackets of shipping vessels be located under each bed for easy access
during emergency like the ones under
the aircraft or planes.
LIFEBUOYS
Again from Wikipedia, lifebuoy, also known as Kisby ring or
Perry buoy, is a life-saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in
the water to provide buoyancy, and to
prevent drowning. Some lifebuoys are
fitted with one or more seawater activated lights to aid rescue at night.
The lifebuoy is a ring or
horseshoe-shaped and has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be
pulled to the rescuer. They are carried
by ships and are also located beside
bodies of water that has a depth or
potential to drown someone.
In summary, all ships must
carry certain emergency and life-saving equipment. This equipment must
meet minimum standards and must
be properly tested and serviced.
There are different requirements depending on the size and type of ship
and where it operates.
Emergency and life-saving
equipment include things like: lifeboats and life rafts, lifebuoys, lifejackets and attachments, buoyancy
apparatus, emergency alarm systems
and public address systems, marine
evacuation systems, radio communications and fire-fighting equipment,
IMO symbols and safety signs.
Most importantly, we need
these as lifelines in sea travel and
pray that we will not use them
after all.
About the author
Engr. Rene B. Morgia is presently an
environmental, health and safety consultant and formerly the General Manager of Viking Life-Saving System Phils a global leader in maritime safety providing
and servicing essential safety and rescue equipment
for passenger and cargo vessels, offshore installations,
the defense and firefighting sector and other maritime
industries.
He has a Master’s Degree in Environmental, Health and Safety Management at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia and has more than
20-yr solid experience in PPE’s , environmental and
safety products as well as flow control valves in the
shipping, oil and gas industry.
He is a Professional Steam Engineer (marine
and stationary boiler inspector) Licensed under the State
of California and also a Registered Chemical Engineer.
TINIG NG MARINO
61
62
TINIG NG MARINO
ANG ALAGA NI BISAYA
HEADLINE BUKAS,
NGAYON ANG BROADKAS
ang astig na
TATOO ni totoy
....................
Bisaya:Hulaan mo kung ano
ang alaga kong hayop,
nagsisimula sa liter I.
Gardo: Isda?
Bisaya: Dili man.
Gardo: Alam ko na. Yan ay
Ibon?
Bisaya: Malapit na.
Gardo: ha? Anu nga? Sirit na!
Bisaya: eh di IGOL! LoL!
WALANG GANYAN
KATABA!
Good News! Walang Bad news.
Tahanang walang hagdan, Inakyat!
Isang bakla, ginahasa,
tuwang-tuwa!
Tindera ng suka, tinuyo!
Bulag nakapatay, nagdilim daw
ang paningin!
Teacher nagkamali, tinuruan.
Basurero nagsampa ng kaso, binasura!
Tubero, nagkatulo!
Barkong lumubog, hindi nakatiis,
lumutang!
Buntis sinaksak,
sanggol nakaiwas!
Sa sugalan.....
Pedro: Hala pare! Parating na
ang asawa mo mukhang
papauwiin ka na!
Juan: Wala iyan kapag nakita niyan ang tattoo ko aalis agad
iyan!
D ig o l :K a l o k o h a n ! Wa l a n g
taong ganyan
kataba.
Aina: Saan mo ba nakuha ang
balitang iyan.
Digol: Dito sa dyaryo. Ang
sabi “Bristish tourist lost
(Dumating ang misis pinakita
agad ni Juan ang tattoo. Nang
2,000 pounds”!
makita, ay agad umalis si misis.)
Pedro: Bilib na ako sayo pare!
Patingin nga ng tatto mo?
FOR OFFICIAL
USE ONLY
TATOO: (“Mauna ka na Boss susunod na ako”)
USA: Stealing is against the
law.
PRINSESA O 1 BILYON?
England: Foreigners who are
Hari:Kung sino ang makakalangoy sa
caught stealing will be
ilog na puro buwaya ay papapilideported.
in ko siya. Prinsesa o 1 Bilyon!
Saudi Arabia: Steal and your
(Kabado ang lahat , walang sumubok
hands will be cut off.
kahit isa ng biglang tumalon ang isang
Philippines: Stealing is FOR
lalaki at ligtas na nakalangoy)
OFFICIAL USE ONLY.
Hari: Magaling! Anu gusto mo?
LUMABAS ANG
Prinsesa o 1 Bilyon?
Lalake: Wala akong pakialam sa anak
MATAPANG
mo o sa 1 Bilyon!!! Ang gusto
kong malaman ay kung sino ang
tarantadong tumulak sa akin!
BERI ESI
Pacman: It flash to my nose three
time for they buy dead too.
Mommy D: Beri Esi, Eh di ekuals
portin.
Lasing: Hoy! Sinong matapang?! Labas!
Pokmoy: Ako! Bakit? Lalaban ka?
Pustahan tayo, babasahin ninyo ulit.
Lasing: Pare, Ihatid mo naman ako
Hala sige. PAG-ISIPAN NINYO
sa bahay, natatakot ako kay
mga readers.
misis eh.
Si BEN 10 At
si Ben 11

TNM 108 - United Filipino Seafarers United Filipino Seafarers

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