Filipino seafarers’ training to include international labor best practices

July 03, 2023

by: Susan G. de Leon

QUEZON CITY, (PIA) --The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and European Commission (EC) will include international labor best practices in the scope of European Maritime Safety Agency‘s (EMSA) €4 million technical assistance aimed to improve the education and training of Filipino seafarers.

This after Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista announced that the EC will provide the technical assistance for the training of Filipino seafarers to continue to meet the requirements of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Convention.

MARINA Executive Director Samuel Batalla said, Philippine maritime officials will discuss with their EC counterparts in Brussels next week the scope of work and how the aid would be utilized.

Batalla said the €4 million technical assistance, which will be fully financed by the EU-Member States and to be supervised by the EC Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG-MOVE) and DG for International Partnerships (DG-INTPA), will cover the implementation of the STCW Convention.

The technical assistance will also include aspects of Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, specifically in areas of recruitment and placement of Filipino seafarers, Batalla added.

The MARINA executive explained that the inclusion of MLC 2006 is to expand the program, which aims not only to ensure compliance with the STCW Convention but also to share best practices relating to other international conventions concerning seafaring and the maritime industry in general.

Batalla also said the European Commission will evaluate the country's state of play on the implementation of the corrective actions addressing the grievances noted by the commission before the start of the program of technical assistance in 2024, giving EC an opportunity to identify the specific assistance needed by the Philippines.

To effectively carry out the technical assistance in a pragmatic manner, EC experts will be assisted by independent technical experts with no conflict of interest in the country, Batalla added. (dotr/pia-ncr)