Seminar on standards for training, watch keeping for seafarers held

          The seminar was held at Best Western Hotel La Corona in Ermita, Manila. Aside from MARINA staff, representatives from the DOH, CHED, MTC, TESDA and NTC also attended.   

          The 1978 STCW Convention was the first to establish basic requirements on training, certification and watch keeping for seafarers on an international level.    

         Previously, the standards for training, certification and watch keeping of officers and ratings were established by individual governments, usually without reference to practices in other countries. As a result standards and procedures varied widely, even though shipping is extremely of international nature. The Convention was already amended.

             Baylon said that it must be noted that the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) made a number of visits to assess the training and certification standards in the Philippines for the purpose of continued recognition of Filipino certificates for employment on EU flagged ships and had provided some recommendations.

           She said taking the matter seriously, President Aquino has already signed a bill into law that brings all matters relating to seafarers’ training and certification under MARINA as a single administration. The President also appointed Dr. Maximo Mejia Jr., a professor of the World Maritime University (WMU), as MARINA Administrator. It was Meija who invited Chowdhurry to conduct the seminar in the country.  He was a visiting professor at WMU and was the Deputy Chief Examiner of the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency when the amended version of STCW was implemented in the United Kingdom.

          Baylon graced the seminar-workshop upon the invitation of Chowdhurry. She said, while expressing general satisfaction of the system and process in the Philippines, that she believes that new measures will further improve the seafaring standards in the country.