Bautista allays fears of looming EU ban on Pinoy seafarers

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Thursday allayed fears that tens of thousands of Filipino seafarers aboard European vessels are at risk of losing their jobs amid findings that the Philippines did not comply with the European Union’s standards on seafarers’ education, training, and certification.

“In one of the Cabinet meetings, a few weeks ago, it was reported to the President (Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.) that there was a finding by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) that the Philippines did not comply with some of the standards relating to certification, training, and watch-keeping (STCW),” Bautista told reporters at a virtual press briefing.

“It’s important to say that we should not be alarmed by this because we did not fail the audit. There were findings. There were observations but the Philippine government through Marina (Maritime Industry Authority), through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Department of Migrant Workers, DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), and the Coast Guard are working together to address all these issues,” he added.

The Transportation chief said the EMSA audit, which was conducted in 2020, flagged 23 “grievances” in its findings.

“Basically, itong mga findings nila ay tungkol sa training standards ng mga schools natin. Mayroong mga issue na hindi nagagamit ‘yung mga tamang equipment. Hindi nagkakaroon ng tamang onboard training and hindi namo-monitor ang training programs ng various schools,” he said.

(Basically, their findings are about training standards of our schools. There were issues that the right equipment was not used. The onboarding training is not right and that the training programs of various schools were not monitored.)

Bautista said the CHED already reviewed the curriculum of maritime schools and some non-compliant schools were already closed.

“The President’s directive during the Cabinet meeting was to specifically address the EMSA observations so we will be compliant and prevent blacklisting of our seafarers,” he said.

He said that the government has already submitted its response to EMSA.

“Ang hinihintay na lang natin ang sagot ng EMSA (We’re just waiting for the answer of EMSA),” the Transportation chief said.

Bautista said the government is prepared should the EMSA raise questions for the Philippines in its upcoming meeting in November.

Worst-case scenario

“The worst thing that can happen is i-blacklist tayo ng mga European countries na sasabihin nila hindi kayo pumasa sa audit, hindi na nila tatanggapin ang mga seafarers,” Bautista said.

(The worst thing that can happen is we would be blacklisted by European countries and they will tell us that we didn’t pass the audit, so they won’t accept our seafarers.)

The Transportation chief said there are about 50,000 Filipino seafarers in Europe.

“It will affect a lot of seafarers ‘pag di natin naayos ang issues with EMSA… Kaya nga ginagawa natin lahat ng paraan para ipakita sa kanila na tayo ay magko-comply sa kanilang mga standards,” he said.

(It will affect a lot of seafarers if we will not be able to address the issues with EMSA… That’s why we are doing everything to show them that we will comply with their standards.)

Nonetheless, Bautista said that based on his meetings with European ambassadors, “sinasabi nila ‘yung mga (they say that their) shipping companies still prefer to hire Filipino seafarers.”

In a press statement, DMW Secretary Susan Ople confirmed that the President directed various agencies led by the DOTR to come up with a joint implementation plan to address the concerns raised by EMSA.

She said DMW "fully supports the actions being taken by the DOTR and MARINA to ensure compliance with international maritime standards particularly on the education, training, and certification of Filipino seafarers.”

She added the President "never ordered MARINA to be removed as an implementing agency nor did I ever say this in any interview.”—AOL, GMA News