House bill seeks upgrade of Philippine maritime industry with new school

A lawmaker has filed a bill seeking to upgrade the Philippine maritime industry by replacing the Philippine Maritime Marine Academy (PMMA) with Philippine National Maritime Academy (PNMA) to meet strategic needs of the industry and country's maritime defense, among others.

Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez, under House Bill 6503, said the PNMA will address the economic and defense requirements of the country, including naval, maritime law enforcement and other maritime trade and maritime education and training development in reference to UN- International Maritime Organization (IMO)-Seafarers' Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) requirements.

House Bill 6503 states that the PNMA will engaged in the following academic engagements:

• conferment of bachelor's degree in Marine Transportation (Major in Ship Management and minor in maritime cyber security or appropriate minor subjects required by the stakeholders);
• conferment of bachelor's degree in Marine Engineering (Major in Communications, Electrical and minor in Maritime Software Development or appropriate  subjects required by stakeholders);
• graduates of Philippine National Maritime Academy who are holders of a Bachelor of Science degree will be exempted from taking Operational Level Assessment of MARINA or PRC equivalent but shall undergo validation examinations by the PMMA Academic Board.
• conferment of Post Graduate degrees in Ship Management, and Maritime Education and others to be created by PNMA Graduate Studies Department
• creation of a Research and Development Department engaged in the Academic Development of the PNMA and the Maritime industry in general, with the said Department shall be headed by a PhD category or MNSA graduate.
• full academic freedom status will be bestowed to PNMA, wherein the Research Department shall monitor its annual academic curriculum growth and requirement with reference to the world economic and shipping trends

In addition, the bill authorizes the PNMA to:

• develop and create curriculum that will fit the needs of the end users and stakeholders in concurrence with UN-IMO-STCW and others regulations;
• share developed curriculum that is applicable to the maritime education institutions that is doable, realistic and less expensive to the maritime school owners and training centers.
• ensure that the proposed curriculum to be applied is approved and regulated by Commission and Higher Education;
• innovate and develop policies that can be used by the local maritime sector
• be known as the third official Service Academy for Naval, Maritime Law Enforcement Institutions, Merchant Marine and other maritime related Agencies; maritime engineering, and marine services;
• ensure that all students shall receive full scholarships which shall include their expenses for billeting, haircut, laundry, meals, and all uniforms;
• provide monthly cash allowance to all cadets depending on their branch of service and career profession as Navy, Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine;
• ensure that the academic curriculum format meets the needs of the following government agencies, private sectors, and the world maritime industry including:

1. Philippine Navy
2. Philippine Coast Guard
3. Philippine National Police Maritime Command
4. International Shipping and Maritime Industry
5. International  and  National  Maritime  Industry  as  Ship  Surveyors,  Shipping/Crewing Managers, Port Managers, Maritime Academic Institution Deans
6. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
7. National Mapping Resources Information Authority
8. Philippine Ports Authority
9. National Coast Watch Council

“The PMMA is the pioneer institution in maritime education in the country and has produced finest Filipino merchant marine officers. [But] with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the situation in the country, the PMMA is not just responding to its merchant or commercial needs anymore; and unfortunately, having a limited merchant marine image due to its name reduces its ability to get more funding from the national government for its requirements, resulting in depleting foreign flag employment of the Filipinos,” Rodriguez said in his explanatory note on the measure.

Rodriguez mentioned that From 2016 to 2018, the Philippine ship manning agencies lost 105,318 seafarers due to loss of confidence and failure to meet European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) standards in maritime training.

"Therefore, it is about time to change the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy into the Philippine National Maritime Academy with a new campus in Mindanao to expand economic gains of the country and increase the number of maritime officers for the country's defense and maritime law enforcement," he said.

The PNMA, under the bill, will also cater the Basic Maritime Training and Theoretical requirements for Naval Reservist and Coast Guard Auxiliary Reserve that their respective organization requires.

The PNMA Corps of Professors, on the other hand, will be applied with regimental and civilian uniformed culture from its original PMMA organization to PNMA that will be utilized under the Naval Reserve during time of War and National Emergency.

Cross Training, coordination, and cooperation for appropriate  academic  curriculum will also involve the following agencies:

• Development Academy of the Philippines
• University of the Philippines
• National Defense College of the Philippines
• Philippine Military Academy
• Philippine National Police Academy
• Naval Education Training Command (PN)
• Coast Guard Education Training Command (PCG)
• AFP Education, Training and Doctrine Command
• Foreign Maritime Institutions with no political or legal conflict (Asia, US, and Europe)

"The PNMA will maintain foreign technical consultants from foreign  Maritime and Academic institutions or from shipping related companies such as shipyards, maritime software developers to develop local maritime software in the future. These consultants may be in the form of government to government, IMO, or Existing Foreign Technical government consultants as needed," the bill reads. —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA Integrated News