MAY - JUNE 2012 - United Filipino Seafarers United Filipino Seafarers

TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Mr. Ronald Lafeber, Dolf Kornet and Secretary Arrested.
MAY - JUNE 2012
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Finally
SINGLE ADMINISTRATION
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Janelle Manahan
SURVIVOR
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TINIG NG MARINO
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Finally
SINGLE ADMINISTRATION
alacañang has finally cemented
the
perennial
bickering
among
state
bodies that partake of seafarers’ affairs in promoting compliance with international standards.
It has designated a “single maritime administration” that
will oversee and supervise the
education, training and certification system of Filipino seafarers in accordance with the adoptive
international
standards.
Executive Order No. 75 also
gave the Department of Transport
and Communications, through its
line agency Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), the power to “control, administer, implement and
supervise” all qualification requirements and conditions under the
STCW Convention, as amended.
The STCW amendments of
2010, also known to the industry as
the Manila Amendments, took effect
on 01 January 2012. It imposes upon
the maritime administration huge
responsibilities to satisfy full compliance with the Convention, which
led to institutionalise the new law.
If necessary, the order says
that Marina would have to “lead
and supervise the comprehensive
review and amendment of existing
executive and legislative regimes
to ensure the country’s full and
complete compliance to the Manila
Amendments” on 01 January 2017.
Consequently, the functions of
the Maritime Training Council and
the function of TESDA to issue the
certificate of competency (CoC)
for ratings have been absorbed
by the DOTC, through Marina.
The Professional Regulation
Commission has been directed
by the new order to align its rules
and regulation on the administration and conduct of licensure examination and the issuance of
CoC and certificate of endorsement for deck and marine officers
with the DOTC/Marina mandate
towards the institutionalisation of
a single administration regime.
More than 10 agencies had
taken part to implement compliance
to the STCW Convention, which
contributed to the fragmentation of
responsibilities for the implementation of the international convention.
Marina had originally undertaken implementation of STCW
Convention relative to the issuance
of CoC to all seafarers in 1987 pursuant to an executive order signed
by former President Corazon C.
M
Aquino,
mother of the incumbent president Benigno Aquino
III. But it was never implemented.
After 25 years, a presidential son came in to inherently bring
round an aborted lawful order
that institutionalises an agency
as the flag state administration.
Tinig ng Marino’s Editorial in
an erstwhile edition already stood
on its ground that a single administration is the solution to end the turf
war among agencies concerned,
which had created confusion to
the fragmented responsibilities in
implementing the STCW Convention and related IMO instruments.
As the leading provider of
the world’s supply of competent
and certificated seafarers in the
international seaborne trade, the
Philippines accounts for more
than 25% of the total crew requirements on board oceangoing ships.
The
Philippine
shipboard
personnel are a consistent major
contributor to the country’s economy through its foreign exchange
earnings in the amount of more
than $3Bn annually, EO 75 stated.
“It is of paramount national interest that the competitiveness of the
Filipino seafarer be promoted and
TURN TO PAGE 16
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MAY - JUNE 2012
Capt. Leuel Oseña is indicted for libel
Arrest warrant ordered
T
he office of the City Prosecutor in Manila has recommended that Capt. Leuel
Oseña be indicted for libel finding
probable cause on the case filed
by Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez last
April 22, 2009.
The resolution stated that
criticisms and defamation are two
different categories. Criticisms deal
only with such things that will invite
public attention or call for public
comment. It does not follow a public man into his private life nor pry
into domestic concerns. They may
not attack and seek to destroy, by
fair means foul, the whole fabric of
his statesmanship, but the law does
not permit them to attack the man
himself. They may falsely charge
that his policies are bad, but they
may not falsely charge that he is
bad.
Anent retaliation or vindictive-
CAPT. LEUEL P. OSEÑA
ness, it cannot be a basis of selfdefense in defamation. “It may be
true that “once aspersion is cast its
sting clings,” but will another libel
shake off such sting? Will hitting
back undo what was done? We
take it that if a person is insulted
hits back, he wants to retaliate or
revenge; and retaliation or vindic-
tiveness can hardly be the basis of
self-defense. The answering of a libel may be justified, if it is adequate
when the answer is scurrilous.”
Leuel Oseña , the soothsayer-president of Amigos-Marino,
recklessly published a lie-tainted
and baseless story that Engr. Nelson Ramirez possessed SPURIOUS, FAKE or TAMPERED marine
engineer’s license on the March
31, 2009 issue of the defunct The
Maritime Observer.
Oseña also falsely accused
Engr. Ramirez who started as a
messboy/ deck rating in the early
1970s and ended up wandering in
Luneta in the late 80’s. He also said
that Ramirez does not deserve to
be a labor union leader and is an
unknown as a regular member of
the established national media organizations like Kapisanan ng mga
Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) or
National Press Club.
On the other hand, Engr.
Ramirez presented his several
licenses issued by the Professional Regulation Commission, his
Norwegian license, Panamanian
license, Dutch license, Liberian license and Bahamas license which
proved that Leuel Oseña is guilty of
making malicious imputations and
of lying about the veracity of his licenses.
On the allegation that Engr.
Ramirez was wandering in the
streets of Luneta in the late 1980’s,
Engr. Ramirez presented documents that he was on board vessels from 1980 to 1994, was chosen as delegate/representative of
the Filipino seafaring sector in the
First Overseas Filipino Conference
held on December 11-12, 1988 at
the Asian Institute Management in
Paseo de Roxas, Makati. He was
also the representative of the sea
based sector in the First Overseas
Filipino Conference in Europe on
November 1-3 held in the Netherlands. Aside from that, Ramirez
also represented the Concerned
Seamen of the Philippines on the
Forum on The Condition of the
Philippine Shipping Industry on No-
vember 25, 1988 held in Asian Social Institute in Manila. Likewise, he
is also a member of the Organizing
Committee of the First Filipino Seafarers National Convention held on
September 27-28, 2002 at the Manila Hotel which also proves that
Mr. Leuel Oseña is only concocting
stories to assassinate the character of Engr. Nelson Ramirez.
On the issue that Engr.
Ramirez is a nuisance in the media industry, he retorted and asked
why would Mr. Leuel Oseña work
as a columnist for four years and
six months and advertise his product OMARSOFT for nine straight
years in the newspaper (Tinig ng
Marino) which I am the founder
and executive editor?
Engr. Ramirez also said that
he has eight radio programs in
well-known radio stations all over
the country and a television show
at present compared to what Oseña has been bragging that he was
a blocktimer of DWBL and DWSS
which are unknown to many radio
audience. Ramirez also presented
his various IDs as a member of
various media organizations that
Mr. Leuel Oseña does not have.
On the defamatory statement
of Leuel Oseña that Engr. Ramirez
is unfit to be included in the core
of professionals, Ramirez proved
that his peers in the profession
have recognized his leadership
and significant contributions to the
field of marine engineering as well
as to the maritime industry as a
community when he presented the
various awards and plaques of appreciation as a leader of a maritime
labor federation like The Most Outstanding Marine Engineer of the
Year in 1996 by the Professional
Regulation Commission, Outstanding Achiever of the Year in the
Province of Zamboanga del Norte,
Outstanding Individual of the Year
in 2008 by the Volunteer Against
Crime and Corruption, Outstanding
Seafarer of the Year by the Public
Attorney’s Office (PAO), OLAMWA
medal from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Spirit Plaque from the
Philippine Coast Guard, Plaque
of appreciation from MARINA,
OWWA, Presidential Fact-Finding
and Policy Advisory Commission
TURN TO PAGE 47
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO
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MAY - JUNE 2012
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.ufs.com.ph. Materials published in this
paper may be reprinted provided proper acknowledgment to Tinig ng Marino
and the author, if indicated, is made.
Nelson P. Ramirez
Executive Editor
Managing Editor
James S. Mante
Mryna F. Virtudazo
Andy Dalisay
Assistant Editors
Arianne R. Rodriguez
Editorial Consultant
Eric Z. Vicente
Lay-out Artist
Kenneth M. Estrellado
Neil Brian Zozobrado
Artists
Sapalo Velez Bundang
& Bulilan Law Offices
Legal Consultants
Joy G. Saberon
Ryan C. Ricafort
Production Staff
Fr. James Kolin
New York Bureau
Engr. Samson Tormis
Greece Bureau
Corry Llamas-Konings
Philip Ramirez
Bob Ramirez
Rotterdam Bureau
Minabelle Siason
Belgium Bureau
Capt. Arturo Cañoza
Japan Bureau
SOUNDING LEAD
EDITORIAL
CAPT. REYNOLD ‘BURT’ M. SABAY
Smooth sailing
under one Marad
The Philippines crewing sector went euphoric after President Aquino finally signed the edict many see as a key to solving the industry’s dilemma over recent threat to ban thousands
of Filipino seafarers serving on ships calling European ports.
However, it may not be as easy as a walk in the park
running the designated single administration that will implement and supervise full compliance of the country’s maritime
education and training and certification system to international standard. As it progresses the international shipping industry watches not just the EU and their shipowners and managers – as to how serious the designated maritime authority
would fulfill the political will into effecting the needed reforms.
For one, such a corrective measure should have
been implemented in 1987 when former President Cory
Aquino signed Executive Order No 125-A, which transferred the function of the Maritime Training Council to Maritime Industry Authority the issuance of seaman’s certificates of competency, leaving the latter as a lead agency to
implement the amended STCW Convention. But “political
reason” was said to have forbidden the shipping body from
performing the assigned tasks, while MTC’s mother unit
Department of Labor and Employment selectively implemented the functions stipulated in the executive order that
reaffirmed Marina as the original flag state administration.
It took 25 years and a threat from EMSA to disband
Filipino seafarers before government acted to put its house
in order in pursuit of compliance with the STCW Convention. Surely the clowns in the industry expect changes
to occur overnight as a result of the new order. But what
they do not know is that the designation of a single administration is just the beginning of fixing the myriad of a
problem. How and when substandard maritime schools
could be shut down, when can moratorium be imposed
in the accreditation of more training centres to stop cutthroat competition and similar other issues that could
level up seafaring further to international standard are
some of the urgent tasks facing the flag administration.
The single maritime administration is to smoothly sail
on an expanded route over the long term, whose vital components - apart from appropriated budget - should include
competent marine personnel and most importantly the political will to implement the tasks stipulated in its new mandate.
Management of change
T
here is nothing permanent except change!
How true indeed! Every election year, people
change alliances, politicians
change plans, government
changes views on almost everything almost every time.
Well. People change clothes
everyday! Politics aside,
the maritime education and
training industry of the Philippines is expecting major changes in government
policies and procedures,
particularly in the implementation of the STCW as
amended with complete and
full effect. Sounds familiar?
Perhaps we are accustomed to the practice of
changing the rules in the middle of the game and complacency presents no risks anymore. This is now the danger
and it is real as demonstrated
by the results of the EMSA
verification visits in the Philippines. The last six (6) years
of EMSA verification, the
Philippines apparently have
nothing to worry about as
everyone’s lips were sealed.
Lately, news are hot
and burning about the tug
of war between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Transportation and
Communication (DOTC) for
the cudgel over STCW. Have
we ever wondered what’s in
STCW in the first place? Is it
really a big deal administering it? The maritime industry, particularly the seafaring
sector, is bracing itself for
the brewing changes that is
about to implode upon us.
Words
spreading
around in almost all sectors of the maritime industry
have it that Maritime Training
Council (MTC) from DOLE
is going to be absorbed by
DOTC through MARINA.
How accurate and true this is,
only time can tell, truthfully,
we have no more time at all.
This column believes in the
saying that there is nothing
permanent except change;
however, this column also
believes in the proper management of change and
the different levels of risks
associated with changes.
The principles and
elements of change management involve strategic and systematic implementations of programs to
seamless phasing in or out
of personnel, teams, and
organizations to achieve
desired objectives. Resistance to change is common
to employees living in their
respective comfort zones.
Therefore, the processes
of change management intend to help employees accept and embrace changes
in their work environment.
Kotter
defines
change management as the
utilization of basic structures
and tools to control any organizational change effort.
Change management’s goal
is to minimize the change
impacts on workers and
avoid distractions. This column shall be on the lookout
how change management
will be performed should the
shift from DOLE to DOTC
eventually becomes real in
the case of the administraTURN TO PAGE 15
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO
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8 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
WORKERS’ VANGUARD
hon. Emmeline Y. Aglipay
Representative, DIWA Partylist
Congress of the Philippines
[email protected]
Labor day letter to seafarers
F
irst of all, I would like to greet
you happy Labor Day! Today we celebrate the fruits
of our labor and the blessings this
has brought to each family, community, and to the whole Filipino
nation. We acknowledge that each
grain of sweat that our laborers offer is for the betterment of our children’s future, to support our better
half, our brethren, friends, family,
and our parents. We recognize that
each success we achieve, each
dream we reach, and every hope
we aspire and feel is because of the
hard work of the Filipino workers,
here in our country and overseas.
We cannot deny the con-
tribution of the Filipino seafarers in
the economy of our country. According to the Central Bank of the
Philippines, your remittances to your
family this January to February 2012
have reached $750M. If this were
to be compared to January to February 2011, this year’s remittances
growth reached almost 20% from
the $627M in the previous year. This
is really a great feat we have accomplished, especially if we were to
match this to the contribution given
by our land-based workers, who only
increase its remittances by 2%. In
this period we mentioned, almost
25% of the total remittances provided by our OFWs to our country come
from the Filipino seafarers. Truly
you are the heroes of our nation!
Today, we also celebrate
our fight for the rights of the Filipino
workers together with the Filipino
seafarers. In this regard, I would like
to update you in the progress of our
bill that gives protection to the rights
of the Filipino seafarers, the Magna
Carta of Seafarers. Currently, we
continuously coordinate with the Department of Labor and Employment
and different government agencies
therein, together with companies that
employ Filipino seafarers, and most
especially seafarers associations
who are well versed with the issues
and concerns that we are faced in the
seas and/or in our country. We highly
appreciate your unending support of
giving us your views, feedback, and
insights for the advancement of our
Magna Carta. We sincerely encourage you to visit our office in Congress should you have any topics
or concerns we should tackle in the
passage of this bill. In our unity and
collective effort, we will achieve what
every Filipino seafarer aspires for.
Mabuhay Filipino Seafarers!!!
Sincerely,
Emmeline Y. Aglipay, DIWA Partylist
15th Congress Representative
MAY - JUNE 2012
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The PMMA wants to increase the sense of nationalism in the academy’s midshipmen.
PMMA cadets to go high-tech
State academy unveils
package of reforms
T
he Philippine’s major staterun maritime school has
unveiled a package of reforms that would boost the institution and students to lead the race
further in maritime education. .
Philippine Merchant Marine Academy president, Commodore Richard Ritual, said the
development unleashes three
major projects, which include the
provision of electronic notebooks
for all the midshipmen, establishment of a PMMA graduate school
site in Manila, and improve relation among major academics
and related government services.
Ritual said he believes that
PMMA graduates are “already good
technically.” He has no doubt about
it. However, he noted that there
have to be improvements in both
written and oral communication.
“My idea is to give more
research opportunities to our cadets so as to enhance their writing
skills and develop their confidence
in speaking when they defend their
research,” the PMMA chief told
academy graduates and guests at
an alumni homecoming last April.
To do that he must give
them a tool – which are the
electronic notebooks for the cadets and wi-fi availability for
the whole academy beginning
this
upcoming
school-year.
The
PMMA
board of
Trustees has approved the
project, which is to be funded
by the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines.
Under the plan, the cadets will pay their ebooks in five
PMMA cadets and alumni at a recent homecoming
years, once they start to work
upon graduation, Ritual said.
It will be a tripartite setup involving the DBP, the cadets and the shipping company
that will hire them. PMMA cadets
are assured of jobs by the shipping companies sponsoring them.
Grade updates and medical history of the midshipmen will
also be included in the ebook programme contents, so that sponsored shipping employers will be informed of the cadets’ performance
once they admit them for their jobs.
The new PMMA administration also banks on changing the current attitude of the cadets and graduates, which Ritual described as
way “too much on commercialism.”
He wants to increase the “sense
of nationalism in our midshipmen.”
“I have always felt that
PMMA being a government institution should also look more for
the interest of our country and (for
PMMA) to share resources with other (marine-related) state agencies.”
One of them is to train naval officers’ candidate.
Ritual,
who assumed his post in February this year, said that PMMA
has begun “better cooperation”
with three related marine organisations in the state services like
the Navy, PMA and Coast Guard.
PMA cadets, for instance,
will now be offered training in
Commodore Richard Ritual: “Give
more research opportunities to our
cadets”
PMMA especially in the field of
navigation
and
seamanship.
For the Coast Guard, the
PMMA board also has approved the
offering of a third course (apart from
the existing BS Marine Transportation and BS in Marine Engineering)
– the Bachelor of Science in Maritime Law Enforcements. Consequently, all future officers in the PCG
will now be sourced from PMMA.
At the same time, all PMMA
graduates who will serve in PN
will no longer be “reservists” but
regular officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. That will
put the maritime cadets on equal
footing with their military counterpart at the PMA, Ritual stressed.
He also disclosed that
Land Bank of the Philippines is
willing to fund the planned graduate school building of the academy to be located in Manila. He
has targeted the realisation of
the project before his term ends.
As a co-state run agency,
Land Bank is said to have extended a longer term loan with
lower interest rate, while the
borrower will not start payment
until after the first two years.
PMMA graduate school
and training center needs only
two floors, Ritual added, saying that the rest of the building will be offered for rent as a
source of revenues to repay loan.
TINIG NG MARINO 13
MAY - JUNE 2012
PMMA alumni stage
grand homecoming
G
etting better together, setting
the pace, leading the race.”
That’s the theme PMMA
Alumni Association has lived up to in
successfully staging its recent grand
homecoming, together with their families and friends at their alma mater, the
Philippine Merchant Marine Academy.
For the alumni themselves,
the homecoming marked a significant event as it has begun the realisation of having its dream home,
the Alumni Centre. PMMAAA president Gaudencio Morales reported
that the building had been renovated and the transfer of title to the
group’s
Foundation
completed.
If the past homecoming was
an improvement of previous years,
the April 2012 event at the academy’s campus in San Narciso Zambales came down in the alumni history to have been more successful in
terms of attendance, food and overall
arrangements. The eagerness, cooperation and efforts of the host batches led by host class over-all chairman Capt. Wally Rivas, had been
apparently credited for this success.
Host batches for this year’s
homecoming include the Class of 1972,
Class of 1977, Class of 1982, Class of
1987, Class of 1992, Class of 1997,
Class of 2002, and Class of 2007.
The whole-day affair on 14
April opened with a motorcade, led by
the PMMA cycling team, which mounted a 25km bikathon that began and
finished at the PMMA, along with a car
show from the academy’s Car Club.
Attendees then proceeded
to hear mass at the school chapel
to thank for all the blessings that the
alumni association and the academy have received. Indeed, blessings for the academy poured in on
that homecoming day as a number
of donations from individual companies and alumni batches had been
inaugurated during the occasion.
Some alumni like the owners of Crossworld Marine Services
donated a machine shop, the Class
of 1996 handed over the newly built
gazebos, while the Class of 1990
gave away a utility van. The Alumni’s Singapore Chapter paid for the
repair and refurbishment of the cadets’ rifles and their paraphernalia.
Fun games and amusements
dotted the early part of the event,
which included gladiator joust, bunjee trampoline, obstacle course, airsoft competition and face painting.
At lunch, which was served at
the gym, saw an overflowing of food
Capt. Gaudencio Morales:
Realization of an alumni
dream home.
Sky lanterns fly over academy’s night sky
Machine shop courtesy of Crossworld Marine Services.
Capt. Wally Rivas (Left), almuni
homecoming over-all chairman of
the host class.
United Filipino Seafarers president Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez (in yellow
t-shirt) poses with the members of the class 1996 who donated the
gazebo.
in buffet with various regional menus
that included Ilocano, Kapampangan,
Tagalog, Bicol, and Ilongo dishes. Alltime fiesta favourite lechon and roasted calf were also present on the table.
In the afternoon, activities
began with a call to formation at the
PMMA grand stand. The testimonial
parade witnessed an assembly of hundreds of past graduates of the country’s oldest maritime school – from
as early as Class 1958 to the latest,
2010. It also saw which class to have
had the biggest number of attendees
as they lined and paraded in accordance with the colour of t-shirts worn.
The much awaited silent drill
of the crack platoon never failed to
astound the audience with awe. Their
snappy and skilled execution of varied formations that created significant pictograms and symbols always
proved to be an awesome display of
their seamanship, how the future
Filipino ship officers would have
been shaped up to be one of the
best world’s maritime professionals.
As the day became dark on
that one hot summer night, lights
suddenly adorned the sky above
PMMA campus with the launching of floating sky lanterns. Participants from each class lighted
hundreds of sky lanterns that were
freely flown high above the skyline.
When the sky lanterns
gradually vanished from above,
attendees proceeded to dinner
served at the academy’s grand
mess hall where the alumni, their
families and guests enjoyed a programme of a “70s retro” theme party.
It would not be complete
without the citations of special
awards from the participating classes such as those chosen for those
who performed among their very
bests during the entire event: best
marching unit, best in class uniform, class with most number of attendees, best in retro costume, and
most senior class in attendance.
As if the night wouldn’t
have faded for once, many danced
the night away, partying and jamming with the live band in front
of the academy’s Quarter Deck.
14 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
VIEW FROM HOME
Back to my first love
Congressman Teddy Casiño
t is both an honor and a privilege
to be writing a column for Tinig ng
Marino. While I am known more as
an activist and the partylist representative of Bayan Muna in Congress,
writing has always been my first love.
From writing love letters to
my high school crushes, I graduated into serious writing when I became a campus journalist at the
University of the Philippines in the
late 80s. This was in the era of typewriters and manual page layouts,
where every word got to see print
through a very tedious process.
Now everything is digital and instant.
It was during those days
as a campus journalist that I got to
have a deeper knowledge of our
society. Writing for the paper required gathering facts, analyzing
them and making conclusions. This
I
exposed me to so many issues and
sectors. It forced me to think critically. I also had to squeeze my creative juices so as not to bore my
readers to death. It was the best
career training I ever got in my life.
As a writer, I got to understand why so many of our people are
poor. I met and wrote about people
whose dignity and rights had been
trampled upon to the point that they
could no longer live decent lives
nor live like normal families. These
things affected me so much that
straight out of college, I volunteered
to work in the labor movement.
I met factory workers, service
workers, and yes, seafarers. Many
of them would tell me that they had
difficulty finding jobs that paid decent
wages. Some went abroad and got
separated from their loved ones for
years, even decades. It was painful,
they said, but they could do nothing
about it because they had bills to pay
and children to send through school.
After my stint in the labor
movement, I worked for other sec-
tors under the Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan
(BAYAN)
network.
Then in 2004, I was nominated to
represent these sectors in Congress as the congressman of
Bayan Muna party list, where I
am now on my third and last term.
This is why I find myself fortunate to be writing for Tinig ng Marino.
This gives me a chance not only to return to my first love but also to link up
and communicate with Filipino seafarers who I have always admired.
In a sense, I have come aboard a
ship, “Tinig ng Marino” that will take
me not to countries but to Filipino
seafarers in every part of the globe.
Perhaps, it is Providence
that brought us together right when
the world is about to celebrate Labor Day on May 1. It is a day for
legislators like me to take stock of
what has been done and identify
what still needs to be done to address the problems of seafarers.
*****************************************
Someone told me long ago
about our unique capability to pick
out fellow Filipinos while in a foreign
land. If you want to know if there
is a Filipino in the crowd, “sumitsit
ka, iyong lumingon, Pilipino yun.”
I have found this advice
useful while traveling and I have
to admit, we Filipinos are all over
the globe. And nowhere is the
preponderance of Filipinos more
felt than in the maritime industry.
Labor statistics show that
one out of every four seafarers working around the world is a Filipino.
The deployment of sea-based overseas Pinoys has increased by over
14% this 2012, and it is forecast
to maintain at that level until 2014.
Seafaring is a time-honored
Filipino profession that started long
before the Spanish came to colonize
our country. Filipino seafarers during
the time of Datus and Rajahs engaged
in a very active trade and made reguTURN TO PAGE 45
TINIG NG MARINO 15
MAY - JUNE 2012
SOUNDING LEAD
Management of change
FROM PAGE 6
tion of STCW in the Philippines.
There were threats as demonstrated by many exchanges in
the Internet and online communications about the possible recommendations to withdraw recognition of the Philippine certificates
issued to seafarers. If this threat
becomes real, the impact is not unimaginable. For one, the domino effect from one flag state to another
adopting the said recommendation
shall be painful and disastrous, not
only to the families of the Filipino
seafarers but to the ship owners as
well employing Filipino seafarers.
The foreseeable scenarios
are: Filipino seafarers undergoing
certification process in accordance
with the Flag State Administration of
the vessel they are joining, a scramble among maritime education and
training centers in the Philippines
for recognition and accreditation
by every Flag State Administration
employing Filipino seafarers, medical clinics seeking accreditation
from different flag states, and so on.
Well, the Filipino seafarers will continue to be employed though until
replacements of equal competence
become available but through difficult, long and expensive processes.
The blood, sweat and tears
invested by all concerned to be
stamped with approval by the “Philippine Maritime Administration” will
go to naught! It is pointless, useless
and futile to be accredited by the
Philippines, at least in the regime
of maritime education and training.
We look forward in the coming months that management of
change will be perfected by the
concerned Philippine authority for
the sake of the five-billion-dollar a
year industry, the seafaring industry!
16 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Finally single administration
From left: CHED Director Julito Vitriolo, Amb. Robert Asuque, MTC National Director Liberty Casco, DOTC Sec. Mar Roxas,
Deputy Administrator Atty. Nick Conti, Marina, DOTC Under Sec. Atty. Rafael M. Santos, UFS President Nelson P. Ramirez.
FROM PAGE 3
sustained and thereby ensure that
they are accorded consistent priority in employment and that their job
security is maintained,” the EO said.
This “objective can only
be meaningfully and effectively
achieved through the institution of
a single maritime authority in the
Government to oversee and supervise the maritime education, training
and certification system in accordance with the adopted international standards at all levels,” it added.
STCW functions Marina takes
over
The Department of Transportation and Communications, through
the Maritime Industry Authority, has
been given the following functions
as the designated authority under
EO 75 to implement the STCW
Convention, as amended. These
functions include the following:
1.Administer and ensure the
effective implementation of the
STCW Convention, as amended and its Associated Code;
2.Issue the Certificate of Competency and its corresponding Endorsements to seafarers in compliance with the STCW Convention, as
amended, consistent with Section 4,
paragraph (b), this Executive Order.
3.Accredit maritime education programs and training courses and ensure that the programs
and courses, faculty and instructors, and equipment and facilities are in compliance with the
prescribed IMO model courses
and meet the requirements of the
STCW Convention, as amended;
4.Inspect, audit and evaluate
maritime educational institutions
and training centers to ensure com-
pliance with prescribed standards;
5.Delegate to recognized organizations the authority to inspect,
audit, and evaluate, as may be necessary, such maritime educational
institutions and training centers,
through Memoranda of Agreement
(MOA) setting forth the extent of
the authority delegated to them;
6.Revoke the accreditation
of training programs by any noncomplying maritime training center;
7.Require
the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
to revoke the registration, permit, accreditation, or recognition of the maritime education
programs of any non-complying
maritime educational institution;
8.Require TESDA to revoke
the registration, permit, accreditation, or recognition of the maritime training courses of any noncomplying maritime training center;
9.Issue the Certificate of Dispensation in accordance with the
STCW Convention, as amended;
10. Prescribe, collect and
regulate the administrative fees
and charges relative to the implementation of the STCW Convention, as amended;
11. Ensure that all the obligations of the Philippines as
party to the STCW Convention, as
amended, are carried out, including the recognition of certificates
issued by or under the authority of
another State party;
12. Take the lead in coordinating the Philippine position to
relevant IMO meetings pertaining to the implementation of the
STCW Convention, as amended,
including the comprehensive review thereof;
13. Communicate to the
IMO and other concerned parties/
agencies, in coordination with the
Department of Foreign Affairs, any
supplemental information necessary, including subsequent amendments to its rules, regulations and/
or relative to the Philippine compliance with or implementation of the
STCW Convention, as amended;
14. Take the initiative in the
study, review, and recommenda-
tion of new conventions or amendments to existing conventions for
its implementation;
15. Serve as the central repository of information pursuant to
Regulation I/9 of the STCW Convention, as amended;
16. Facilitate requests from
other maritime administrations in
coordination with other pertinent
government agencies regarding
the confirmation of the Philippines’
compliance with the STCW Convention, as amended;
17. Establish and maintain
such electronic databases to assist
other government agencies and
other maritime administrations in
verifying the authenticity and validity of certificates of competency
and endorsements issued;
18. Respond appropriately
and in a timely manner to any
request from other maritime administrations for verification and
confirmation of the authenticity and
TURN TO PAGE 38
TINIG NG MARINO 17
MAY - JUNE 2012
UGONG NG MAKINA AT IKOT NG ELISI
ENGR. NELSON P. RAMIREZ
Most Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer, PRC, 1996
Most Outstanding Student, ZNSAT, 1970
Outstanding Achiever of the Year, Province of Zamboanga del Norte, 2006
Ang leksyon sa pagdampot ng basura
A
ng basura ay dapat lang na ilagay sa basurahan. Maaaring
sunugin o gawing pataba. Natural lang na ang dadampot ng basura
ay ang mga basurero. Ngunit dito sa
ating industriya may mga basura
na itinapon ang UFS na dinampot
ng ibang grupo. Dinampot nila ang
isang dating editor ng Tinig ng Marino at ginawang kolumnista ngunit
isinuka din nila kaagad ang basura.
Ang
nakakalungkot,
dinampot pa rin ng isang dyaryo na
tinatawag na Maritime Observer
ang nasabing basura. Pagkatapos
ng isang isyu, isinuka din. Ang problema, tila hindi yata nadala. Kumuha
na naman sila ng isa pang basura na
galing din sa Tinig ng Marino. Kasalukuyang nahaharap sa kasong libelo ang nasabing basura. Nagtiklop
ang nasabing dyaryo at naglahong
parang bula ang basura.
May isa ring mandurugas na
nagbalatkayong event organizer na
itinakbo ang perang nakolekta para
sa kauna-unahang maritime summit na inorganisa ng UFS. Dinampot
din ito ng naunang nabanggit ko na
dyaryo at ginawa ring kolumnista.
Tumagal lang ng isang isyu ang basurang yon dahil napaso sila sa init
ng basura.
Sa ngayon, ang isang basura na kinasuhan ng UFS sa salang pagnanakaw ang nagpupumilit
na magsulat sa mga dyaryo na dati
niyang pinagtatawanan. Sana naging leksyon na ang mga nangyari
sa kanila noon na ang basura ay
hindi dapat kupkupin at alagaan.
Taon na rin ang aking binilang sa pakikipag-usap sa Maritime
Training Council at TESDA na sana
magawan na nila ng paraan at matuldukan ang pagsasalaula sa mga
TESDA COC at NAC certificates
dahil nakakahiya na masyado ang
paglalako nito sa T.M. Kalaw. Mayroon mang nabibili na pekeng dokumento sa Claro M. Recto ngunit
patago nila itong ginagawa hindi katulad sa Luneta na lantarang inaalok
sa mga dumaraan. Nakakahiya na
ang sobrang pambababoy sa ating
mga dokumento na hindi naman
nangyayari sa ibang propesyon.
Dahil hindi nadadala sa mabuting pakiusap ang MTC at TESDA,
ipinangako ko na tutuldukan ko ang
mga anomalyang ito at ang pangako
na yan ay nailathala dito sa ating pahayagan.Kailangang maputol na ang
talamak na pambabastos sa ating
mga papeles at mabawasan din ang
paghihirap ng ating mga marino sa
sangkaterbang dokumento.
Napirmahan na sa wakas ng
ating pangulo ang Executive Order
No. 75 na nagtatalaga para sa isang
Maritime Administration at hindi na
natin kailangan ang mga pabigat
katulad ng NAC at TESDA COC.
Hindi natin dapat asahan na
mangyayari ang pagbabago sa magdamag. Tandaan ninyo na inabot ng
limang taon ang ating pagpoprotesta
sa harapan ng opisina ng MARINA
upang mapabilis at maibigay sa
loob ng isang araw ang pag-isyu ng
SIRB. Labing dalawang taon din na
pakikibaka upang mapawalang bisa
ang rekisito na kumuha ng pagsusulit
ang isang opisyal bago makakasampa sa mga barko na may banderang
Panama. Taon din ang ating binilang
upang magkaroon tayo ng two-level
at walk-in examination sa PRC.
Nakikita na natin ang bukang
liwayway ngunit kinakailangang
kumilos tayong lahat kung gusto natin ng pagbabago dahil marami pang
balakid ang dapat nating malagpasan bago natin makamit ang ating
ninanais.
18 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
TORM Shipping Philippines
moves to new location
Mr. Claus Jensen and Ms. Mailyn Borillo, TORM Shipping Philippines President do the honor of the ribbon-cutting last April 12, 2012
T
ORM Shipping Philippines
inaugurated its new offices
recently in ceremonies that
were attended by executives of the
firm’s global and local organizations,
partners in the Philippine shipping
industry and government officials.
Mr. Claus Jensen and Ms.
Mailyn Borillo, TORM Shipping
Philippines president, led the ribbon- cutting last April 12, 2012.
Among those present were:
Corporate Marine HR Vice President
Mr. Tommy Olafsen; Jan Lauridsen,
Head of Torm Singapore; AMOSUP
Vice President Johnny Oca; UFS
President Nelson Ramirez; Commodore Richard Ritual of PMMA;
Dr. Pedro de Guzman of PEME; and
Mr. Erik Moller Nielsen of the Royal
Danish Consulate in the Philippines.
The new location occupies
The officiating priest started the mass before the blessing.
some 1,265 square meters of office
space at Salcedo Towers along H.V.
dela Costa Street, Salcedo Village,
Makati City. It houses the Crewing, Administrative Support, Training, and Finance and Management
Departments duly outfitted with the
latest communication and productivity equipment, making for an integrated and seamless operation.
The modern and spacious
new office is three times bigger than
TORM Shipping Philippines’ previous offices which it shared with TSM
for over 20 years. It can be seen as
a measure of the importance the
company places on providing the
best possible work environment
and support to its Filipino seafarers.
Already, the new office has
reaped positive comments from its
early visitors: “It’s very family-orient-
Bente Boa of TORM Denmark presented a gift.
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 19
ed.” “The Family Room is cozy and
welcoming.” “It boast spacious and
beautiful atmosphere conducive for
the working staff and its guests.”
The move into the very heart
of the country’s premier business
district may very well symbolize
the company’s commitment to the
Philippine shipping industry and to
the country’s economy as a whole.
Likewise, it may well presage the
build-up of TORM’s Philippine organization in the years ahead.
TORM Shipping Philippines
currently has a total of 35 shoreMr. Tommy Olofsen w/ two
based employees and 1,069 Filipino TORM employees in Filipiniana costume
TORM employees
crew, of which 474 are officers and
595 ratings. It started its Philippine
operations in 1988 in partnership
with TSM and was housed at TSM
Building in Dian Street, Makati City.
It transferred to its new office at Salcedo Towers on March 26, 2012.
As a responsible corporate
citizen, it is contributing to the expansion of the country’s pool of
professional and technical manpower by supporting the college
education of 100 scholars through
its TORM Foundation. It is committed to taking in 25 new scholars each year under the program.
Under this program, 10 scholars
are relatives of TORM employees. Mr. Johnny Oca of AMOSUP
TORM shipping officers who attended the office blessing
20 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
SAILORS’ CORNER
ATTY. AUGUSTO R. BUNDANG
Head, Litigation and Seafarers Department
Sapalo Velez Bundang & Bulilan Law Offices
Of resignation, home allotment pay and
unexpired portion of the contract
W
hat is the best evidence
that a seafarer pre-terminated his contract? What
is the nature of a “home allotment
pay”? How much salaries should
be awarded to an illegally dismissed overseas Filipino worker?
These questions have been
answered by the Supreme Court in
the case of “Skippers Maritime Services, Inc. and Skippers Maritime
Services, Inc. Ltd. vs. Nathaniel
Doza, Napoleon de Gracia, Isidro
Lata and Charlie Acosta (G.R.
No. 175558, February 8, 2012).
Here, the seafarers con-
cerned sued their employers for
among others, unremitted home
allotment for the month of December 1998 and salaries for the unexpired portion of their employment
contracts after they were unceremoniously discharged on board
and immediately terminated when
they aired their grievances with the
Romanian Seafarers’ Free Union.
Their employers countered
by alleging that they instead demanded immediate repatriation
because they were not satisfied
with the ship. The employers submitted as evidence a telex mes-
sage and a fax message sent by
the vessel to said employers which
both bore conflicting dates. Their
employers however, admitted nonpayment of the home allotment
for the month of December 1998.
The labor arbiter and the
NLRC dismissed the parties’ respective claims. The Court of Appeals on the other hand, ruled for
the seafarers and granted their
claims for unremitted allotment
and salaries for the unexpired portion of the contracts. The Supreme
Court ruled for the seafarers as well
and affirmed the decision of the
Court of Appeals with modification.
To debunk the assertion of
the employers that the seafarers
voluntarily pre-terminated their
employment contracts, the High
Court noted that the seafarers
should have submitted their written resignations if it were so. It
gave no credence to the employers’ telex message which was
found to be a “biased and selfserving document that does not
satisfy the requirement of substantial evidence.” In the absence
of a written resignation, the High
Court presumed that the employers terminated the seafarers. And
since the seafarers were not given any written notice regarding
the cause of their dismissal, their
termination was deemed illegal.
On the issue of “home allotment pay”, the High Court considered it a salary that should be
paid for services rendered following Section 8 of POEA Memorandum Circular No. 55, series
of 1996, which provides that the
allotment actually constitutes at
least 80% of the seafarer’s salary. It is not in the nature of an
extraordinary money or benefit
as erroneously concluded by the
arbiter and the NLRC, hence, its
non-remittance should be considered unpaid salaries which
the employers are liable to pay.
Finally, following the 2009
ruling in the case of “Serrano
v. Gallant Maritime Services &
Marlow Navigation Co. Inc.”, the
Supreme Court awarded to the
seafarers salaries representing the unexpired portion of their
contracts, instead of strictly just
salaries for three months as stated in the Migrant Workers Act.
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 21
22 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
VAST HORIZON
C/ENGR. RODOLFO B. VIRTUDAZO
Outstanding Seafarer of the Year, NSD, 1998
Most Outstanding Marine Engineer Officer, PRC, 1999
Technical Superintendent, SWAN Shipping Corporation
The deadly sin called greed
G
reed is the need for material possessions or material
wealth. If this need is unfed,
a greedy person may even resort to
hoarding their goods, theft, robbery,
or obtaining any material possessions
by means of trickery, violence, deception, or manipulation. Greedy people
usually are easy to bribe, or will take
any bet or do anything for money.
On the other hand, the opposite of greed is charity, compassion,
friendship, and sympathy without
prejudice.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 says that:
In reality, religion is a treasure if
we are content with what we have.
We brought nothing into the world
and we will leave it with nothing.
Let us be content with having food
and clothing. Those who strive to be
rich fall into temptations and traps.
A lot of foolish and harmful ambi-
tions plunge them into ruin and destruction. Indeed the love of money
is the root of every evil. Because
of this greed, some have wandered
away from faith, bringing on themselves afflictions of every kind.
Greed is basically a form of
wanting but it’s more than wanting
more and more and more. Greed’s
siblings are envy and covetousness.
We need to open our eyes and admit
that greed is one of the most socially
acceptable sins in our fallen culture.
Greed is very much a part of our
world. If an individual starts a business, pounds his employees mercilessly, undermines his competitors
deceitfully, overcharges his customers regularly, but makes a fortune in
the process, we call him, a success!
The fact is our society is
structured to encourage all of us
to be greedy. Every day we are
pelted with ads that prompt us to
want more. The advertising industry spends millions of pesos a day,
on billboards, in magazines, on TV,
radio, and the Internet. Well, merchants spend all this money on these
ads because they want us to live in
a perpetual state of wanting more
and more and more which leads us
to buy more and more and more.
All of us no matter what tax bracket
we fit into, suffer from greed. Some
of the greediest people in the world
have very little but they spend countless hours, scheming and fantasizing, fully convinced that more
money would solve every problem
and meet every longing in their life.
We can be sinfully greedy
about anything. Which is why Jesus
warned, “Be on your guard against
all kinds of greed.” We also need
to be honest enough to admit that
Christians embrace this sinful attitude just as much as non-Christians.
Most people agree that greed is a sin
but the rest of us think that it’s okay.
The Lord tells us specifically that His commands are never
burdensome. By this, He doesn’t
necessarily mean they’re easy to
keep. On the contrary, every guideline, every law, every imperative in
the Bible was crafted in infinite wisdom. They were given not only to
honor God, but to benefit us as well.
Greed deceives us. This sinful desire motivates us to try to earn
more than we need, own more than
we can use, and ache for stuff that
never satisfies. Greed promises that
material well-being will deliver much
more than material well-being can.
Greed lies to us and promises things
that it does not deliver. Greed tells us
that if we get what we do not have-if
TURN TO PAGE 28
TINIG NG MARINO 23
MAY - JUNE 2012
PISOBILITIES
FRANCISCO J. COLAYCO
Chairman, Colayco Foundation for Education
Entrepreneur, Venture Developer and Financial Advisor
Magtatrabaho, magnenegosyo
o maga-abroad?
araming nag-e-email sa amin
para humingi ng payo. Kadalasan lamang kulang ang mga
detalye kaya nagpapalitan pa kami
ng email bago magkaintindihan nang
maayos at makapagbigay ng makabuluhang payo dahil makakapagbigay lang kami ng makabuluhang
payo kung ang taong nagtatanong
ay nagbibigay ng sapat na detalye.
Heto ang palitan ng email
sa pagitan namin ni Jean. Itinago
at inalis ang ilang detalye upang
mapangalagaan ang privacy niya.
Sana’y mapulutan natin ito ng aral:
“Nagtrabaho bilang seaman
ang aking asawa sa loob ng anim
na taon. Nang tawagan na siya ng
shipping company upang bumalik
sa pagka-seaman, tumanggi siya
kasi nag-apply na siya sa isa sa
mga call centers sa aming probinsya. Pero tinawagan uli siya ng
shipping company para isaayos
na ang kaniyang bagong kontrata.
Pinag-iisipan namin nang
husto kung aalis siya bilang seaman
o mananatili na lang dito para magtrabaho sa call center. Ang aming
pinagsamang income ay sapat lamang upang tustusan ang aming buwanang pangangailangan at makapag-ipon ng kaunti ngunit at least
magkasama kami bilang pamilya.
Hindi sana mahirap ang desisyon na manatili na lang siya dito.
Ang problema, nalaman ko na nagbabayad pala siya ng educational
insurance sa loob ng limang taon.
Kalahati pa lang ang nababayaran
niya. Pagkatapos na mabayaran niya
lahat, may five years pa na waiting
period bago iyon magmature. Bukod
pa ito sa ibang annual payment na
binabayaran namin sa isa pang plan.
Binabalak sana namin na humugot
muna ng pera mula sa mutual funds
namin para mabayaran lang ang
mga insurance. Pero kapag ginawa
namin iyon, kaunti na lang ang matitira sa aming savings account at sa
mutual funds. Dahil dito, mawawalan
kami ng emergency fund. Matatali
lamang sa insurance at mutual fund
ang aming pera. Nag-aalala tuloy
ako kung ano ang mangyayari kung
magsara ang insurance company.
Kung pipirma uli ng kontrata
ang aking asawa sa shipping company bilang seaman, kikita siya ng
sapat para bayaran na lahat ng insurance at hindi na namin kakailanganing galawin ang mutual fund
namin. Pero ang masama dito,
baka hindi na tanggapin ang aking
M
asawa ng mga kumpanya dito sa
amin dahil nga maba-blacklist siya.”
“Nagtayo rin ako ng maliit na
food business dito sa syudad namin.
Nababawi naman namin ang mga
gastos sa negosyo. Pero ngayong
summer at walang pasok ang mga
estudyante, nahihirapan talaga kami
hanggang sa punto na hindi na kami
nakakapagbayad ng sahod at renta.
Tuwing pasukan, kahit hindi napaka-
lakas ng kita, kahit paano’y patuloy naman ang benta buong araw.
Ngayon, tuwing lunch lang kami
may benta. Sa katunayan, kailangan
pang pumila at maghintay ang ilang
customer bago sila mapagsilbihan
at makakain. Pero, pagkatapos ng
lunch, wala na ulit benta. Kung ikukumpara ang summer at pasukan,
hindi hamak na mas malakas ang
kita tuwing pasukan. Nagbebenta
rin kami ng ice cream scoops. Dati
maraming bumibili nito pero halos
wala kaming nabenta ngayong summer. Ang masama pa niyan, madami
kaming biniling stock dahil iniisip
namin na mabenta iyon dahil summer.
Nag-aalala ako kung kayang magpatuloy ng business namin
TURN TO PAGE 27
24 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Investment in facilities
marks total difference
Newsim: ‘When training comes more as a service, ROI is just incidental’
Aboard the cargo ship Ark are three big cabins that also dabble as a dormitory with a capacity of 40 persons
with pipe-in music, five VIP rooms, three 24-person fully air-conditioned learning stations, a medical clinic,
and an administration office.
t is one of the several training
centres in the Philippines that
operate its own facilities and
equipment, which always bears
the hallmark of marking the difference in seafarers training.
But unlike all other training outfits in the country, the New
Simulator Centre of the Philippines (NEWSIM) is one of a kind
that has embraced the importance
I
of and sincerity in the business of
preparing seafarers to face the real
world of the maritime profession.
NEWSIM now owns and
operates a concrete training ship
that replicates the real merchant
marine tonnage many mariners
have similarly navigated the seven seas. Inaugurated in December last year, the training ship
Newsim Ark firmly docked in Mon-
te Vista Beach Resort of Barangay Bignay II, Sariaya, Quezon.
From a distance, one could
see the handsomely painted long
hull afloat above its waterline. And
as you get closer, you would be
amazed as to how the equivalent of
a 12,000dwt cargo ship was able to
have docked close to a shoreline,
land in-between Tayabas Bay, from
which one might suspect the ves-
sel could have sailed away from.
But the Newsim Ark appears
to be a multi-purpose newbuilding
order – from the well painted hull,
the automated engine room on the
way up to the well-equipped bridge
– where NEWSIM has poured multimillion in investments to build it.
The
five-deck
training
ship is also complemented on
its stern by a four-storey accommodation area that stands like
an office building in the city. The
edifice also serves as a dormitory
for trainees, function rooms for
many occasions along with classrooms and offices of the training
centre and VIP rooms that could
match the services and facilities
of a cruise ship or a five-star hotel.
“This is the only training facility in the country whereby trainees could see and experience
the
real
situation
aboard,” said Reynold Sabay,
NEWSIM chief executive officer.
And as drills, like fire-fighting are carried out on board, a trainee commented that it felt like as “if I
were putting out fire onboard a ship.”
The
Newsim Ark
is
equipped with a 5m deep training
pool (30mx40m) where trainees
could utilise the ship’s 32-person
enclosed-lifeboat that is launched
via gravity davit. The adjunct training pool also serves the emergency
launch of the crew’s life-saving 25-
VIP suites for guests that can be compared to a 3 stars hotel accomodation and comfortable bunks for the trainees
TINIG NG MARINO 25
MAY - JUNE 2012
The crew’s life-saving 25-person free-fall lifeboat.
person free-fall lifeboat from the Ark,
apart from another 22-footer fast
rescue boat that runs at 35 knots.
Apart from the usual gangway, one can choose to board the
NEWSIM’s ship by car or even
by lorry through its side gate,
which perfectly duplicates those
pure PCTCs (passenger car and
truck carriers) or ro-ro ships crisscrossing the world’s trade lanes.
Aboard the cargo ship
Ark are three big cabins that also
dabble as a dormitory with a capacity of 40 persons with pipein music, five VIP rooms, three
24-person fully air-conditioned
learning stations, a medical clinic, and an administration office.
The navigational bridge has
been equipped with real consoles
as that of a ship operator’s owned
tonnage. Dubbed as Starburt’s, the
bridge can have guests enjoy their
coffee while having an excellent view
of Mt. Banahaw and Tayabas Bay.
NEWSIM offers almost all
top of the line, required simulatorbased training courses – from radar plotting to liquid cargo handling
for deck officers, and from electri-
Starburt’s guests savor their coffee while having an
excellent view of Mt. Banahaw and Tayabas Bay.
cal science to engine room simulation courses for marine engineers.
Specialised programmes focussing on Marpol, maritime law, vetting inspection, medical care and
ship security are also conducted.
The training centre also offers customised courses like crew
resource management, shipboard
management and leadership, and
shipboard environmental management system, among others.
In tackling crisis on board
ships such as fires, Newsim Ark
lets trainees engage the real thing
with its multiple and advanced
fire fighting exercises at openfire deck with multiple burners/fire
tubs, along with fire and smoke
chamber and facility for cabin fire.
Since 2001, the Professional Regulation Commission
has been using NEWSIM as an
assessment centre, making use
of its simulators for marine deck
and engineer officers. It is also
the first training institution to be
accredited to provide Management Level Course in 2006. The
ship has sourced some parts of the
training apparatus from China and
The 12,000 dwt cargo ship Newsim Ark
installed them in the Newsim Ark.
Sabay
believes
that
there is still a room to improve
an overall honest-to-goodness
training for seafarers. He said
that training should not always
be a source of money that has
plunged many of the country’s
centres into cutthroat competition.
Cutthroat
competition
among training centres speaks of the
Philippine standards or lack of it, he
said, asking “where and what is the
Philippine administration’s policy”
about it? There seems to be none.
“Training is more of service. Return on investment only
comes as an inevitable consequence,”
Sabay
stressed.
NEWSIM’s Sariaya facilities
now gear up to be the alternative
training arena for marine cadets of
various maritime schools from all
over the Philippines, especially in the
nearby provinces like Bicol and Laguna along with the marine schools
of
neighbouring Lucena City.
Sabay said that the country’s maritime education and training regime appeared to be overregulated against international
The navigational bridge
standards. However, he noted
that over 100 maritime schools
and nearly 80 training centres apparently have their own respective
training standards being followed.
Apart from training activities, the Newsim Ark also serves
as a leisure haven for seafarers
who want to re-charge themselves
while undergoing training or after
taking the required courses before signing on for their next ships.
Not only seafarers have
been enticed to try the facilities
and the beach where the training
centre is closely located, but nontrainees as well. The area also
hosts a leisure swimming pool capable of accommodating 200 persons including a kiddie infinity pool.
Nestling on a 17-hectare
beach resort, more than twice the
size of the training area has been
allotted for leisure and vacation.
Guests could also relax in cottages and enjoy the beach for a
swim. The facilities have also been
an ideal site for team building activities for office-based personnel.
At New Sim Ark “training becomes an instant vaca-
26 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
An Unholy Alliance (Part 2)
A
s the saga of the “Unholy
Alliance” (TNM NovemberDecember 2010) and “The
Lawyer Who Raised a Seafarer
from the Dead” (TNM March-April
2012) slowly unfolds, the maritime world watches in anticipation. The questions are now slowly
being answered; the problems
are starting to have solutions and
the perpetrators and accessories are now nearly pinned down.
Without the efforts of people who dedicatedly pursue legal
means, the Filipino seafarers might
be generalized and stereotyped by
the foreign shipowners as mobs
and syndicates, which can affect
the job market, shifting the economic concentration from us to
our neighbors. Efforts made have
erased the perpetuating system of
corruption in the maritime industry.
In 2010, Miguel Angel
V. Rocha, vice president of CF
Sharp Crew Management, one
of the largest manning companies in the Philippines, shook the
maritime industry when he revealed the dirty tricks being played
by some lawyers and arbiters
with seafarers on the front line.
Rocha shared a letter from
a dismayed principal who was
alarmed at the rate of seafarers
using every possible opportunity
to be granted permanent disability.
In the letter, the principal said they know for a fact that
those seafarers who chose to
go in that unfortunate direction
were coerced by their lawyers
who would eventually collect a
good part of the compensation.
The story deepens when it
was discovered that the culture of
corruption extends at the NLRC
(National Labor Relations Commission), a quasi-judicial agency
attached to the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The NLRC which is mandated to
make formal judicial decisions on
management disputes involving
both local and overseas workers,
appear to be biased in favor of
seafarers mindlessly granting “total permanent disability” in each
and every case without checking the facts behind their cases.
One of the hallmark cases
published by TNM was the Oblena
Case (TNM March- April 2012) entitled “The Lawyer Who Raised a
Seafarer from the Dead” which is
about a lawyer who used a computer, a printer and several pieces
of paper in bringing back a Filipino
seafarer from the dead. Atty. De la
Cruz abused his knowledge in law,
technicality of proceedings and legal resources to forcefully substitute Oblena’s wife to be able to get
the permanent disability claim. This
case is reportedly elevated at the
Court of Appeals
Capt Reynaldo Casareo, president of Cargo
Safeway, has dedicatedly continued
in pursuing and
investigating the
anomalies
hurting his own crews
because they are
only receiving the
amount which is
less than entitled to
them. Capt. Casareo cited an example of a chief cook
who was rewarded
Php3.4
million
but only received
Php900,000. Another one was
bosun Eumenda
who was awarded Php5.2 million
but only received
Php1.8
million
Capt Casareo and their legal
counsel Atty. Balbin have presented
with the P&I Representatives of Japan, who visited the Philippines in
March 2012, the cases that are already settled and near to be settled.
In an exclusive interview with
Capt. Casereo by Tinig Ng Marino
he said, “We are now applying all
the legal steps and investigations
regarding the reported anomalies
to know who these culprits are and
to formulate
legal and just
actions
against them.
We have
to end this for
the benefit
of all Filipino
seafarers
so
that
the marit i m e
industry will
n o t
be threatened. The
f e w
w h o
have
a l -
themselves
l o w e d
to
be
used should not affect the
entire
Filipino
seafarers.”
The counsel presented the
connivance of a seafarer and the
“Runners or Ambulant” chasing
lawyers who are frequently inducing seafarers to file Permanent
Disability Cases against their manning agents with the promise of receiving millions of pesos. One of
the several cases presented was
the Munar Case. In a documented
interview, he revealed that he was
approached by the runner of Atty.
Rebene Carrera and was made
to sign a contract for legal
services on July 26, 2011.
He was told to file Permanent Disability Case
amounting to $20,900.
“The lawyers are
using this opportunity
to use Filipino seafarers
to feed their pockets
because for every
injury and ranking or position of
the seafarer, it
amounts to hundreds of thouTURN TO PAGE 39
TINIG NG MARINO 27
MAY - JUNE 2012
PISOBILITIES
Magtatrabaho, magnenegesyo o maga-abroad?
FROM PAGE 23
bago magsimula ang pasukan. Wala
kasi kaming extra na pera para
tustusan ang tindahan namin. Naiisip kong isara na lang iyon. Pero
mukhang may pag-asa pa dahil
pagdating ng pasukan, dodoble ang
mga estudyanteng maaaring bumili
sa amin. Siyempre, hindi garantisado na lalakas ang benta namin
kahit sa pasukan. Minsan sapat ang
kita namin, minsan naman hindi.
Siguro ang pinakamalaking pagkakamali namin ay ang pagpayag
sa mataas na buwanang renta.”
Upang mas maunawaan
namin ang problema ni Jean, itinatanong namin ang mga sumusunod at
ang sagot niya ay sumunod sa tanong.
1. Hindi ba kayo maaaring lumipat sa ibang syudad kapag nakabalik na ang mister mo at hindi
siya makakuha ng trabaho sa
kasalukuyan
niyong
syudad?
“Ayaw
naming
lumipat sa ibang syudad dito sa
Pilipinas.
Kung
lilipat
man
kami, sa abroad na lang.”
2. Bakit mo nasabing hindi ka
maaaring mag-resign dahil hindi na
siya makakabalik sa call center?
Kahit permanent man siya o temporary, hindi ba’t pareho lang ang
tingin ng call center kapag nag-resign siya? Mahirap bang makapasok sa call center? Sa pagkakaalam
namin, hirap ang mga call center na
maghanap ng magagaling na tao.
Maraming umaalis sa call center
kaya lagi silang naghahanap ng mga
magagaling na tao bilang kapalit.
3. Gaano katatag ang call center na iyon? May mga call
center
din
na
nagsasara.
“Tungkol sa trabaho ng
mister ko sa call center, nagtanong
na siya kung pwede pa siyang magre-apply
pagkatapos
niya
mag-resign. Ang sabi, kung magiging permanent muna siya bago
mag-resign, maaari siyang magreapply kung may bakanteng posisyon. Kung magre-resign siya
ngayon habang siya’y contractual,
tiyak na mabla-blacklist siya ng kumpanya. Dito sa aming probinsya, kaunti lang ang mga call center at pinakamaganda na iyong call
center na pinapasukan niya ngayon. Hindi mataas ang turnover rate
sa call center na iyon dahil kaunti
lang naman dito ang call center.”
4. Kailangan mo ng mas maaasahang kita para kapag nakabalik na
ang asawa mo at hindi siya agad
makakuha ng trabaho, pansamantala mong matutustusan ang pamilya.
“Dati, kapag umuuwi ang
asawa ko galing abroad, may nakalaan na siya para sa aming mga
gastusin habang wala siya sa
barko. Iba pa ito sa savings namin.”
5. Mukhang magiging mas mahirap
ang taong ito kaysa sa nakaraang
taon. Kung nabawi n’yo lamang ang
gastusin sa nakaraang taon (ibig
sabihin, hindi kayo kumita), ihanda
ninyo ang mga sarili sa posibilidad na
maugi kayo nang kaunti sa taong ito.
6. Hindi n’yo ba pwedeng i-cancel
ang lease contract kung masyadong mahal ang 20 thousand?
Iniisip namin na kung malulugi pa rin ang food store, isasara na lang namin iyon. Anim na buwan
na naming pinapatakbo ang aming
food store. Kung magbrebreakeven naman, baka ipagpatuloy pa namin. Ang alam ko, pwede
naming i-preterm ang kontrata.”
7. Mukhang matatag at mapagkakatiwalaan naman ang insurance
company na binilhan ninyo ng insur-
ance. Huwag ka nang mag-alala sa
mga bagay na hindi mo naman mababago. Upang mabawasan ang dahilang mangamba, ikalat sa iba’t ibang
investment ang inyong pera nang sa
gayon ay lumiit ang risk o panganib.
“Tungkol sa education insurance, tulad ng sinabi ko, kalahati pa
lang ang nababayaran namin. Mas
maganda na ipagpatuloy namin ang
pagbabayad, ‘di ba? Mas mabuti
bang magseaman na lang uli ang
asawa ko para mabayaran agad
namin ang insurance na ito, o mas
mabuti bang bawasan ang aming
mutual funds para mabayaran iyon?”
Sa ibaba ang mga huling
payo namin kay Jean. Bagama’t
maaaring iba ang problema ninyo
sa problema ni Jean, nasisiguro
kong mayroon kayong sariling problema sa pera. Upang mas mapagisipan ang inyong sariling problema,
pwede n’yo ring itanong sa sarili
ninyo ang mga tanong ko kay Jean.
Abangan ang kasagutan sa
susunod na issue...
28 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
VAST HORIZON
The deadly sin called greed
FROM PAGE 22
we get what we desire-we’ll be happy.
When we get something that we
have wanted for a long time, there is
a brief thrill, but the thrill never lasts.
Like a tire with a hole in it, it quickly
loses its ability to bring us happiness.
But we never seem to learn this lesson. When the thrill fades we just
yearn for another thing, hoping that
it will bring us lasting happiness. And
the process begins all over again.
We yearn for something that
we believe will bring us a thrill, only
to aim our desires at something else
when the thrill is gone and the thrill
always leaves! Greed is very deceptive. It promises happiness but it always leaves us wanting. One reason
God warns us to avoid greed is because He knows that wanting is an
endless search for joy that fades.
Like a dog chasing its tail, greedy
people never quite catch lasting joy.
This is why if you want to make a
man happy, add not to his possessions, but take away from his desires.
Greed is that so often it
leads us to embrace other sinful
behaviors. People who want to get
rich fall into temptation and a trap
and into many foolish and harmful
desires that plunge men into ruin
and destruction. For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Greed is the door that leads
all of us from small sins to deeper
and deeper ones. You could say that
greed is the “mother of all sins” for
it is an inward sin that gives birth
to all manner of outward evil acts.
Greed can lead us to push GOD out
of our lives. Greed is a form of coveting-a behavior the 10th commandment forbids. It can lead us to break
the 1st commandment as well, “Thou
shall have no other gods before Me.”
Greed affects all of us to
one degree or another. Many times
it’s hard to see because our society encourages it but it’s there. And
to deal with it we have to first of all
be honest and admit this is true.
Having more clothes than we can
possibly wear is greed so many
clothes that instead of wearing them,
we wear ourselves out taking care of
them! We try to define greed out of
existence. We tell ourselves we really
don’t love money. We might romance
it, ruminate on it, worry that we might
lose it, but we really don’t love it.”
To break free from this powerful sin
we must begin with confession. We
must ask God to open our eyes so
that we can cultivate an awareness
of how often we find ourselves planning and scheming and dreaming of
ways to get more and more and more.
So much of greed’s power to enslave us lies in its exaggerations
and deceptions. Our Lord is telling
us that everything on earth is temporary. Everything is vulnerable to
rust and decay. You may spend millions of pesos on a car but one day
it’s going to be a pile of rust. We
need to ask God to help us look at
life through the lens of eternity so
that we can see the lies of greed.
In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus
said, “Do not worry and say, “What
are we going to eat?” ”What are we
going to drink?” Or: what shall we
wear? The pagans keep themselves
busy with such things: but your heavenly Father knows that you need
them all. Set your heart first on the
kingdom and the justice of God and
all these things will be given to you.
Breaking free of greed requires us to embrace a patient trust
in the character of God. We must realize that in His infinite wisdom, He
knows our needs and our children’s
needs. We must realize that in His
infinite power, He is able to meet our
needs and that His limitless love will
prompt Him to give us what we need.
TINIG NG MARINO 29
MAY - JUNE 2012
Qualified Theft
UFS President sues former TNM managing editor
U
nited
Filipino
Seafarers
(UFS) President, Executive
Editor and founder of Tinig
ng Marino (TNM) filed Qualified
Theft against former TNM Managing Editor Robert Rey Gambe.
In a complaint filed (case no.
23E-03944) last May 3, 2012 at the
Manila Regional Trial Court, Ramirez said his TNM staff discovered the
embezzlement last February when
six advertisers reportedly made
check payments to TNM instead of
UFS, the publisher of the newspaper.
After further investigation, Ramirez
discovered Statement of Accounts
(SOAs) he didn’t sign but bearing
another signature over his printed
name without his permission, and official receipts (ORs) under the name
of Tinig ng Marino. The said receipts,
however, were not the official receipts of the United Filipino Seafarers
that were issued to the advertisers.
For the record, TNM has no
separate bank account; it also has
no separate SOAs and ORs under
its name. Transactions made for
TNM are all under United Filipino
Seafarers. The TNM account with
BPI Family Bank is unknown to UFS.
Ramirez said, the issuance of
TNM SOA was without his prior consent or knowledge, neither did the
UFS Board of Directors know about
it or made a resolution to approve it
making it unauthorized and illegal.
To further prove Gambe’s part
in these illegal transactions, UFS executive secretary Jesalyn Willow and
administrative staff Reynaldo Sto.
Domingo discovered that the advertisers Gambe claimed to being given
“free write-ups” were actually not free
at all and were paid for by the advertisers. They also discovered that it
was Gambe who talked to the advertisers and picked up the payments.
In his nine-page letter addressed to UFS Board of Directors
and to Engr. Ramirez, Rey Gambe
himself admitted to opening the
TNM bank account without the
knowledge and approval of Ramirez and the UFS Board of Directors.
Gambe fakes accident, goes
AWOL
In light of what happened,
Ramirez called for an emergency
meeting last February 23, 2012 with
the UFS Board of Directors to give
Gambe a chance to air his side.
However, in the afternoon of
that day, several people from the maritime industry including Ramirez got
a text from Gambe’s cellphone claiming an old woman picked it up after
he was hit by a truck along Leveriza,
Pasay City. The text also claimed
Robert Rey Gambe
that Gambe was in critical condition
and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Upon receiving the message,
Ramirez sent two UFS cadets to
conduct an investigation where the
supposed accident happened to validate the story. But the by-standers,
vendor and each person they asked
denied that such thing happened
in that area in that particular time.
He also sent two cadets to
Gambe’s residence but his wife refuted the alleged accident when she
informed the cadets that Gambe was
all right and was just passing the night
in an undisclosed location in Manila.
Gambe himself later bragged
about it in his letter saying his
“text stunt” was done to get Ramirez’ head “go around in circles.”
In his letter sent several days
later, he claimed that his “well-entrenched source” informed him of
what was going to happen during the
meeting so he opted not to go because
unlike his vocal boss, he (Gambe)
“tends to get physical” when angry.
Since that day, Gambe has remained AWOL.
Ramirez Vs Gambe
In a last ditch effort to save
himself, Robert Rey Gambe wrote
a 9-page letter which he sent to
the Board of Directors and to Engr.
Nelson Ramirez accusing his boss
of several things, from mishandling
the union’s money to CBAs to defective computers and electric fans.
Gambe claimed he opened a
separate account for TNM to save
the newspaper from bankruptcy as
lyn and Reynaldo discovered it after
just a few weeks in office. Maricar
and Cherry were my employees for
several years!” explained Ramirez.
In his letter, Gambe claims
he is only concerned at the staff of
UFS and TNM that’s why he started
“hiding” the newspaper’s money. He
said he used the money to fix the
printer and to buy an electric fan for
the office. Recently, UFS discovered
that Gambe has diverted hundreds
of thousands from the payments of
advertisers to his own bank account.
Gambe also talked about
the legalities of what Ramirez has
done when he started gathering
evidences against him, preaching
to his former boss that opening letters is a felony punishable by six
to 12 months of imprisonment. A
comment which is so hilarious considering the various crimes that he
had committed. If he believes that
everything that he is doing is in accordance with the law, then he could
have just simply faced the Board of
Directors and explained his side.
In his letter, Gambe also challenged Ramirez to a vote of confidence from UFS members as well as
the Board of Directors. “How can he
impose vote of confidence when he is
the one who is in hiding,” Ramirez said.
“Gambe started having delusions of grandeur when I endorsed
him to become one of the Board of
Directors and National Secretary of
the union Ramirez added. He forgot the fact that he was still just an
employee of Tinig ng Marino. He
also forgot that Tinig ng Marino has
already been established 10 years
before he even applied for his job”.
UFS and Tinig ng Marino started with just an empty carton in Luneta
and before Gambe came seven years
ago. During that time, UFS and TNM
have already been well established.
At present Mr. Gambe is claiming that he is the hero who saved
UFS from bankruptcy by diverting
the payments of the advertisers to
the account which he opened without the knowledge of everybody.
Rey Gambe even had the
guts to register Tinig ng Marino in the Department of Trade
and Industry as his own newspaper with address in Quezon City.
The Board of Directors of
UFS has authorized Ramirez to
file several charges against Gambe for all the crimes he has committed when he was the managing editor of Tinig ng Marino.
it was being mishandled by Ramirez
and his family. He also admitted to
keeping a secret account without the
knowledge of Ramirez and the Board
of Directors to have a “buffer fund”.
Ramirez for his part asks, “Why
is he complaining only now? Gambe
has been with me for the last seven
years. He never made any complaint
about the funds. Much more, he
never complained whenever he received extra income. He never complained when he asked me to fire
another employee so that he could
take his or her job to earn more.”
“For years, I have trusted
Mr Gambe and have given him full
reign of Tinig ng Marino. I always
believed his reports. I have given
him whatever he asked for only to
be deceived and betrayed like this.
“I have even endorsed him to the
Board of Directors to become my
successor!” lamented Engr. Ramirez.
According to Ramirez, what
Gambe didn’t expect was the impact
of the removal of his cohorts Maricar
Songcayauon and Cherry Ann Oguez.
Until now Songcayauon
and Oguez refuse to explain how
those anomalous transactions
were
done.
“Whenever I ask
Cherry about our financial status or for a report on accounting, Rey
or Maricar would step in
and divert the topic. It’s
impossible for them not
to know Gambe’s illegal Maricar Songcayauon
activities because Jesa-
Cherry Ann Oguez
30 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
After retirement
Former PCG commandant accepts call to serve anew
H
e should be enjoying his retirement after 32 years of uninterrupted service in the government. He could be somewhere
else taking pleasure in his own time
and space after devoting years in
serving the Filipino people, even
risking his life in protecting our territorial waters. But shortly after hanging his uniform, he is back again to
serve another call.
After leaving a good legacy
and making history in the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), former
commandant, Admiral Wilfredo D.
Tamayo, welcomes a new vocation
as vice president for Maritime Affairs
of the University of Perpetual Help
System (UPHS).
Founded by its chairman
and CEO, Dr. and B/Gen. Antonio L
Tamayo, AFP (Res), a neighbor and
cousin who nurtures and advocates
a far-ranging maritime vision for the
UPHS, Admiral Tamayo believes his
new calling affords him the opportunity to share with the UPHS College
of Maritime Education his knowledge
and experiences as a former Navy
and Coast Guard officer, and as former commandant of PCG.
It was during his term when
Republic Act 9993, otherwise known
as the PCG Law of 2009, was ratified. This law mandates the PCG to
perform five core functions which he
refers to as the Coast Guard’s 5 M’s
namely: Maritime Safety, Maritime
Search and Rescue, Marine Environmental Protection, Maritime Law
Enforcement, and Maritime Security.
According to the new VP for
maritime affairs of UPHS, the 5 M’s
of the Coast Guard have significant
bearing on the conduct of maritime
education and training programs.
“Talking about anti-piracy
or counter-terrorism measures, for
example, where I happened to be
the pioneer Commander of what we
call Task Force Sea Marshal in the
PCG, the students may benefit from
lessons learned from operations, existing doctrines, and systems developed in addressing maritime threats
and hazards,” says the former commandant.
While piracy, being one of
the major concerns of the shipping
world, is still being addressed, Admiral Tamayo aims to equip the students of UPHS College of Maritime
Education with similar knowledge
and training on countering threats,
which can surely help in ensuring
safety practices when they go on-
board.
“We will also look into the
feasibility of integrating the PCGoriented National Service Training
Program (NSTP) which, according to
Coast Guard authorities, has already
been submitted to CHED for accreditation purposes,” he adds.
To further prepare their students, they have recommended
to the Naval Reserve Command
(NAVRESCOM) the activation of Naval ROTC Unit to both the UPHS Las
Piñas and Biñan campuses.
Admiral Tamayo explains
that, “The Naval ROTC will be ap-
propriate in instilling discipline and in
preparing the midshipmen not only
for their deployments to the global
fleet but also for possible service in
the Defense Establishment in the
event of emergency, in training them
for the Reserve Components of the
AFP, and likewise, in the training of
potential officers for direct commission in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
TURN TO PAGE 32
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 31
32 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Former PCG commandant accepts call to serve anew
FROM PAGE 30
“Along with the other maritime schools in the country, one of
our goals should be – to produce
more qualified graduates who can
become maritime professionals or
maritime officers, not only for deployment to the global fleet but also
to help satisfy the manpower needs
of maritime services and agencies of
the country like the PCG, the Philippine Navy, and the PNP Maritime
Group. MARINA, PPA, BFAR, and
even the Coast and Geodetic Survey
of NAMRIA, among others, likewise
need the services of more maritime
professionals,” furthers Tamayo.
Making a difference
The UPHS College of Maritime Education has been offering
low tuition and miscellaneous fees.
Admiral Tamayo reveals that the students they have right now come from
different walks of life. They also plan
to invite foreign principals to consider granting full scholarship programs
to deserving UPHS students and
for the UPHS to affiliate more with
them in terms of cadetship or shipboard training program. Notably, the
national enrollment in maritime education is high but the deployment of
graduates is relatively very low.
“It’s about time that a stronger, and more innovative and committed partnership between the
government and stakeholders be
developed to address the extreme
shortage of shipboard training slots,
among others, vis-a-vis or with reference to the crewing requirements of
global maritime trade and commerce
which accounts for more than 90
percent of the world’s trade,” underscores Tamayo.
On his part, the VP for maritime affairs doubles his effort to come
up with additional measures to assist
the midshipmen on their shipboard
training phase, eventual deployments or employments, and review
for licensure examinations. Recently
too, Perpetualite midshipmen have
also been topping the licensure examination for marine engineers.
He says, “the biggest challenge there is to make a difference in
the lives of these aspiring young men
and women by guiding them towards
their goal of becoming competent
seafarers, and eventually, as worldclass merchant marine officers.”
The UPHS College of Maritime Education is further being developed as a premier maritime education and training (MET) provider
by way of achieving greater self-reliance within the system through acquisition, upgrading or integration of
maritime capabilities.
Aside from its state-of-theart maritime equipment and facilities,
which include the Kongsberg full mission bridge simulator, GMDSS simulator, the vice president for maritime
affairs says they aim to acquire more
simulators within the year. They are
also looking into the viability of acquiring its own training vessel for the
shipboard training requirement of
their students.
They also expect the UPHS
Maritime Training Center in Marinig,
Cabuyao, Laguna along Laguna
Lake to be operational this coming
school year and start with the conduct of basic safety courses. It will be
upgraded to eventually cover other
maritime training programs, including advance courses.
The training center will not
only cater to the in-house training
requirements of UPHS maritime students, but will also open its door to
other maritime schools that do not
have such training facilities yet.
The UPHS, being a longestablished university, prides itself of
having adequate facilities and amenities such as swimming pool, parade ground, gymnasium, obstacle
course, firing/shooting range, science and engineering laboratories,
chapel, and even time-honored hospitals in both of UPHS Las Piñas and
Biñan campuses, among others.
Admiral Tamayo assures
that the CHED-recognized and Bureau Veritas ISO 9001:2008-certified
UPHS CME will remain fully compliant to the standards set forth by
CHED, the Maritime Training Council, and the International Conventions, among others.
“In order for us to be able
to sustain our stature as a premier
crewing, manning, education and
training, and maritime management
provider of the global fleet, and to
continue to protect and preserve our
country’s four-billion dollar industry,
we need to work and move forward
together in complying with both national and international maritime
standards,” Tamayo enthuses. – Jun
G. Garcia
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 33
34 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Philsafe: Filipinos are ship
Greek operator’s Asian expansio
t has proven once again that the Filipino seafarer is
the owner’s “crew of choice” in international shipping.
I
A Greek shipowner’s move to expand into Asia is directly benefiting the Philippine crewing sector with prospects of further employment for more Filipino seafarers.
Mr. Harry Papadimitriou, Crew Operations Manager of Enterprises Shipping and Trading S.A., stands beside Engr. Ricardo (Ricky) N. Galvez Jr.,
President and Gen. Manager of Philsafe Marine Services Inc.
The recent decision of Athens-based Enterprises Shipping
& Trading SA to set up a joint
venture with the newly established Singaporean firm Universal Overseas Shipmanagement
also gave way to the licencing of
a new crew management company in Manila to handle its supply of Filipino officers and ratings.
The newly established Manila-based Philsafe Marine Services has begun crewing for an
initial tonnage of five bulk carriers
that had been delivered to Universal Overseas last March. But
Philsafe Marine is catching up to
source and screen officers and
crew this year to complete the manning of an initial fleet of 25 ships.
Enterprises Shipping currently owns and operates 90 ships,
consisted mainly of bulkers and
tankers that will also be turned
over to Philsafe Marine for Filipino crewing. Registered in the Isle
of Man and Bahamas, the ships
have been perpetually manned
by seafarers from Eastern Europe over the last many years.
For the first time since the
Greek shipowner and shipmanager began operations in 1973, it
will put the safety and operations
of its fleet under full Filipino crewing arrangement. The transition
from Eastern European to Filipino manning through Philsafe is
gradually undertaken as the new
crewing agency commits to make
a full set of manpower in two to
three ships a month since March.
“It’s a new market for Philsafe
Marine to bring in a new foreign principal, having virgin ships for crewing
by the Filipinos” is a perfectly suited
business pact that policy makers
at the Department of Labour and
Employment and the POEA have
promoted in the formation and licencing of new manning firms.
Creating a pool of seafarers
for a merchant fleet is now a big
challenge facing Philsafe Marine
president Ricardo N. Galvez. But
he said his company is confident
to fulfill the manageable tasks
their principal has placed on them.
Apart from the existing tonnage of 90 ships, his principal is
expecting to complete delivery of
President/Gen. Manager Ricardo
N. Galvez Jr. more newbuildings
and second hand acquisitions next
year, which will also be placed under Philippine crew management.
Apart from shipowning and
management, Enterprises Shipping charters out vessels for fixed
periods or for specific voyages to
shippers and operators worldwide.
Under this chartering arrangement,
the charterer designates the cargo,
trade route and schedule, while the
shipowner is responsible for maintaining and operating the ship,
including provision of the crew.
And Philsafe has to work double
time by striving hard to fulfil such a
crew commitment. Now that there is
a shortage of qualified officers and
crew, creating a pool of trained personnel has remained a challenge for
the newly licenced crew manager.
“You have to strive hard,”
Galvez stressed, saying that hiring and upgrading of crew take
time to create a pool of trained
sailors. “But Filipino seafarers
have proven their competence
as owners really trust us, and we
are a crew of choice,” he said.
Enterprises Shipping’s newly established shipmanagement
venture at Universal Overseas
in Singapore is taking care of the
The Officers, Staff, and Cadet Utilities of P
photograph at the conference room.
Enterprises Shipping has foc
less management and operat
the aims of on-time cargo del
products carried by its manag
Rev. Father Jerome Secillano as he blesses the office.
TINIG NG MARINO 35
MAY - JUNE 2012
powner’s “crew of choice”
on begins manning for 25 ships
Philsafe Marine is catching up to source and
screen officers and crew this year to complete
the manning of an initial fleet of 25 ships.
Philsafe Marine Services Inc. posing for a
cused attention to the flawtion of modern tankers with
livery of all crude oil and its
ged fleet.
chartering market in Asia, whereby
Philsafe will have to answer for
the sourcing of competent seafarers including co-ordination of
crew rotations and repatriations.
The recent financial downturn
in Europe and the business strategy to divert some of company assets into a new market may have
convinced the Greek principal to
start building up its Asian operation and expansion. As the balance of trade and wealth shift from
Europe to other parts of the globe
like Asia, countries in the region
such as Singapore and the Philippines have openly welcomed
marine investment opportunities.
Enterprises Shipping claims
that its strategy is to maintain
long-term business relationships
with major charterers by providing quality service at competitive rates, continue to expand
and modernise its fleet and explore opportunities for diversification beyond the existing fleet.
Engr. Ricky Galvez reading a passage from the Holy Bible during the blessing
ceremony.
In addition, it has focused attention to the flawless management
and operation of modern tankers
with the aims of on-time cargo delivery of all crude oil and its products carried by its managed fleet.
This has to be done in the safest
manner possible, protecting the
marine environment, ensuring the
safety and health of the company’s
seafarers and the public at large.
As a niche tanker management
company focusing solely on modern double hull tonnage, it services
the needs of oil major and trader
clients through the formation of
long-term relationships both on the
spot or the time-charter markets.
Through the quality and professionalism of the teams ashore and
onboard, continuous training, preemptive management and proper
follow-up procedures, Enterprises
Shipping has strived to attain high
utilisation rates for the managed
fleet while minimising risks associated with the oil shipment trade.
Furthermore, it is committed to
the protection and enhancement
of the environment. Improving its
overall environmental performance
and minimising the environmental
impact in its activities, with zero
spills at sea, is the company’s
major and continuing priority.
To achieve this environmental
improvement the company maintains and reviews its Environmental Management System, and Environmental objectives and targets
as identified in Company’s Environmental Review Plan and program,
and will be complying with all legislation, regulations associated with
it’s activities in accordance with the
ISO 14001 standard requirements.
Moreover, the company has
been found to be in compliance
with the Occupational Health and
Safety Assessment 18001 and has
been certified with the relevant Certificate. Enterprises Shipping and
Trading S.A. aims for excellence
in all fields of its activities as far as
health and safety is concerned and
is committed to ensuring the health,
safety and well-being of its staff.
Thus, the company requires all
employees to comply with relevant
health and safety legislation, codes
and standards and established
good practices as well as the company’s policies and procedures.
Mr. Harry Papadimitriou and Manila City Administrator Jesus Mari P. Marzan
(right) cut the ribbon, formally opening the office of Philsafe Marine Services Inc.
36 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
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TINIG NG MARINO 37
38 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Finally single administration
FROM PAGE 16
validity of certificates of compotency and endorsements;
19. To the exclusion of any
other government agency, investigate any complaint received regarding any reported incompetency, act, omission or compromise to
safety, security or the protection of
the marine environment that may
be committed by any seafarer or
holder of a certificate or endorsement in connection with the performance of his duties relative to
such certificate or endorsement;
20. Cancel, revoke, withdraw,
or suspend any certificate of competency or endorsement issued to
a seafarer upon finding of incompetency or the commission of any
act or omission or compromise
to safety, security, or the protection of the marine environment;
21. Require the PRC to cancel, revoke, withdraw, or suspend
any certificate of competency or
endorsement issued to a seafarer
or holder of certificate or endorsement pursuant to Section 4 (b)
First organizational meeting with the stakeholders of the maritime industry on the implementation of Executive
Order No. 75 at Marina board room.
hereof upon finding of incompetency or the commission of any
act or omission or compromise
to safety, security, or the protection of the marine environment;
22. Impose such fines and
penalties and take such other disciplinary action against any erring party and require the CHED,
TESDA, and PRC to impose such
fines, penalties and disciplinary
action in case of any violation of
this Executive Order and any regulations issued pursuant thereto;
23. Coordinate, monitor, verify,
and require compliance of concerned government agencies and
entities involved in the implementation of the STCW Convention, as
amended; and
24. Conduct a comprehensive
review of existing laws and regu-
lations, through tripartite consultations with the view of proposing
amendments to the said laws and
regulations to keep in step with
the dynamic progression of the
STCW Convention as amended.
25. Undertake such activities/
initiatives/works as proper and necessary to implement the STCW
Convention, as amended, and this
Executive Order.
TINIG NG MARINO 39
MAY - JUNE 2012
An unholy Alliance (Part 2)
FROM PAGE 26
sands and millions of pesos.
The investigation led to the
discovery of a leaked information
which revealed that on July 28,
2010, the wife of a seafarer of Car-
go Safeway received a call from
“Anna,” wife of Atty. Carrera who
proposed their filing of legal case
against Cargo Safeway and owners. The wife of the seafarer has
learned that the private information
was being leaked by PANDIPHIL.
It was also learned that PANDIPHIL has been silently pressuring the doctors to exaggerate
their findings to prolong their treatments to the seafarers by delaying their collections. Mr. HPE (not
real name) was diagnosed of having Type I diabetes milletus and
attended routine checkups at St.
Lukes Hospital – Quezon City. The
information about the doctor’s fee
amounting to Php1.7 million was
given to PANDIPHIL on November
9, 2009 but was only approved by
Del Rosario and Del Rosario on
February 16, 2012 after receiving a
demand letter on February 3, 2012.
“This amount of Php 1,705,000.00
covers only doctor’s professional
fee, wala pa dito ang hospital fee at
laboratory fee. Dine-delay nila ang
pag-approve ng findings ng mga
doktor”, added by Capt. Casareo
Del Rosario Pandiphil is the
paralegal affiliate of Del Rosario
& Del Rosario Law Offices, which
for more than three decades, has
been in the shipping and transport
law practice in the Philippines. It
is a local correspondent of various P&I Clubs and handling cases of seafarers where they are
enrolled. Del Rosario Pandiphil
was established primarily to serve
the needs of Protection & Indemnity (P&I) insurers and shipowners in handling insurance claims
of crews. It has expanded its expertise to handle various marinerelated claims including surveys,
protection, cargo, Hull & Machinery and other commercial matters.
It was discovered that PANDIPHIL has been using their influence in insurance transactions to
extend the treatment of the seafarers and reinforce their illness
as work related injury. Ex-OS Allan Tabuerna (not real name) was
asked to report to his attending
physician for 18 times for a period
of 295 days even though his evaluation and grade were already done.
“They (Pandiphil) have been asking
their client-seafarers to report to
their doctor as frequently as possible kasi pag beyond 240 days, nagiging considered na as Permanent
Disability, which will give them higher amount,” Capt. Casareo.said.
In the Marasigan case it was
shown that PANDIPHIL has forcefully inserted “Grade 6 disability”
even when the illness was already
certified as non-work related.
PANDIPHIL settled the case
filed by the same seafarer with
the same lawyer for the several
TURN TO PAGE 57
40 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Search for Tinig ng Marino
Awards
Outstanding Manning Agency
Outstanding Maritime School
Outstanding Training Center
Outstanding Master Mariner
Outstanding Marine Engineer
Outstanding Public Servant
Outstanding in Maritime Safety
Outstanding in Marine Environmental
Protection
UFS Rotterdam at 15
F
riends
of
UFS-Rotterdam
ce-lebrated its 15th anniversary last Saturday, April 14
at the Chinese Restaurant Ocean
Paradise in one of the world’s biggest ports, Rotterdam. For the past
one and a half decade, Filipino
seafarers have always had someone to assist them through FUFSRotterdam, which would provide a
helping hand whenever needed.
FUFS-Rotterdam conducts hospital
and ship visitation, provide seafarers legal services along with other
activities. For years FUFS Rotterdam had been actively inviting seafarers to play basketball and football
and provide them transport services
from the ship to seamen sport cen-
In response to EMSA threat
T
he Philippine government has
finally responded by designating a single administration that
would lead to correcting deficiencies
on its maritime education and training.
But if Executive Order No
75 is the answer to pressures from
the European Maritime Safety
Agency (EMSA) for such a corrective action, the designation of one
administration is a big leap forward
to parrying EU's threat of withdrawal of its recognition of STCW certificates issued by the Philippines.
EO 75, which President
Aquino signed last month, designates the DOTC through Maritime
Industry Authority as the sole administration that has the power to implement and supervise the country’s
compliance to the IMO’s Standards
of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention, as amended.
EU has made true not to allow any Philippine aircraft to fly to
any of EU member air space due
to violation of aviation safety rules.
Despite the country’s insistence
that its airlines are safe, the European Commission has stood pat
on its decision to ban airlines, not
only from the Philippines but other
countries as well, if they would not
fully comply with safety standard.
Similarly the EU, through
EMSA, may have ways to make true
with their threat of withdrawing recognition of Philippine issued STCW
certificates should the country fails
to institute corrective actions on deficiencies identified in an EMSA report.
These audit findings on
the quality of maritime education and training has become of
great importance to national interest that has required intervention from the presidential palace.
However, the Philippine
government’s move to designate a
single maritime administration affirmed its commitment before the
international maritime community
to continue providing competent
and properly certificated seafarers.
Surely, maritime policy makers had weighed a number of vital issues that are at stakes if the country
fails to institute much sought reforms.
Failing would not just result to
a loss of employment opportunities to
about 80,000 Filipino seafarers working on board EU controlled ships,
but also of remittances amounting to
$1.058Bn. It would also jeopardize
entry into EU ports of the current 162
Philippine-flagged oceangoing ships.
It would also mean huge
losses for hundreds of manning agencies, shipping companies, maritime training centres,
maritime schools, travel agencies
ter in Rotterdam until the seamen
sport center was closed. Along with
that activity FUFS Rotterdam had
been hosting holiday occasions like
Christmas parties to hundreds of
seafarers until also the center was
closed and there was no venue
where they can host the occasion.
On several occasions, FUFS-Rotterdam would render assistance to
seafarers who have had the misfortune of shipowners abandoning
them. The group also distributes
copies of the union’s paper, Tinig Ng
Marino, in the port of Rotterdam to
keep them abreast with the latest developments in the maritime industry
both at home and around the world.
Bob Ramirez expressed his gratitude
to the volunteers of The FUFS who
have helped him through the years.
and
health
service providers.
And it might also lead other
non-EU states to adopt similar actions against Filipino seafarers and
Philippine-registered ships if government fails to address the deficiencies.
Having a single maritime
administration fixed, the Philippines
enables to align itself with the rest
of the countries whose STCW administrations are governed by a
single shipping or maritime body.
Prior to signing the new
law the Philippines appeared to be
the only country whose flag state
administration does not control,
implement and supervise STCW
related requirements and conditions, of which is a prime duty
under the STCW Convention.
Most IMO member states
have their respective transport or
marine department, maritime bureau
or agency in charge of the implementation and supervision of compliance
with the international convention.
Indeed, the structure of the
global seafaring industry has become
more complex, with the emergence
of open registries and the hiring of
foreign nationals to man ships of various registries. And the need to institutionalise a single maritime authority to deal with specialized aspects
and complexities of maritime affairs
is the most acceptable solution if
the Philippines wanted to maintain
its position as the leading provider
of qualified and competent seafarers in the overseas shipping trade.
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 41
42 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Klaveness Maritime Agency Inc.,
moves to new office location
A
t a time when the less forwardthinking shipping companies
are struggling to keep afloat,
Torvald Klaveness seems to be doing rather well. In fact, last March
27, 2012, the Klaveness Maritime
Agency, Inc. (KMA) even held a
blessing ceremony for the inauguration of their impressive new offices at the Two Ecom Center building
located within the MOA complex.
As Filipino seamen compose virtually 90% of Klaveness’
ships crew, Philippine operations
are a significant component of the
Torvald Klaveness company. Thus,
this office inauguration merited the
presence of major executives within
the higher echelons of Torvald Klaveness. Aside from KMA President
and General Manager Capt. Victor
S. del Prado, the event was graced
with the presence of such VIPs who
all flew in from their respective countries just to celebrate this milestone.
Maiden Voyage
The inauguration of a new
office is always a cause for celebration in any company. However, in this
case, this feat carries a more significant meaning for KMA and Torvald
Klaveness as a whole. Those in the
know regarding the maritime industry will remember that in April of last
year (2011), Klaveness owner Trond
Harald Klaveness, together with his
brother Tom Erik Klaveness, had
mutually and amicably decided to
streamline the Company by dividing
it into two independent operations.
From a logistic perspective, the move
made sense because it allowed for
better homogeneity within the two
resulting entities: Torvald Klaveness and Klaveness Marine (KM).
Real estate, financial shipping investments, equities and
stocks were turned over to KM.
Capt. Del Prado, Mr. Lasse Kristoffersen, Trine Hellium and Mr. Trond Harald Klaveness, led the
ribbon cutting ceremony
Rev. Fr. Pete Barisoro officiating the blessing ceremony
Meanwhile, Torvald Klaveness opted
to concentrate on shipping management and operations, retaining ownership over vessels and its offices
located in Norway, Singapore, Philippines and China. While the Torvald
Klaveness company is still a very
huge and complex organization, the
split has enabled Klaveness to prioritize the technical and operational
aspects of shipping as well as company performance and innovation.
For the past few months, Torvald Klaveness has been engaged
in a two-fold task: coping with the
recent hard hits that the entire shipping industry had sustained in connection with the economic crisis and
forging a brighter and better Klaveness that is optimized for growth
and expansion. With the acquisition of the new offices a few weeks
shy of the one-year mark, Klaveness is apparently right on track.
Smoother Waters Ahead
Like any shipping company,
Klaveness was also affected by various economic developments such
as the increasing costs of fuel and
the decreased demands for freight
traffic. In 2008, Klaveness had to
reduce the number of vessels over
the recent years, and with fewer
onboard positions available, some
crew members have been let go as
well. However, Klaveness somehow
managed to turn this development
into a good thing by taking the opportunity to sell off the older vessels. The result was a leaner but
more modern fleet—better poised
to take advantage of opportunities
under its promising new leadership.
With the diversification of
the Torvald Klaveness into KM and
the new Torvald Klaveness, thenCEO Trond Harald handed over the
reins to Lasse Kristoffersen in Sep-
Capt. Del Prado and his excellency Amb. Knut Solem
tember
as he 2012
took on the role
MAY 2011
- JUNE
of Chairman of the Board of Directors for the new Torvald Klaveness.
The appointment of Lasse Kristoffersen, President of KML (Klaveness Maritime Logistics), as CEO is
in itself a significant development.
On this management decision, Trond Harald has this to say:
“As the sole proprietor of the company, I believe that this (Chairman
of the Board of Directors) is a more
appropriate role for me to assume.
It allows me to focus on the strategic development of the Group. The
appointment of Lasse Kristoffersen
as the new CEO - the first non-family person to ever hold this position creates a healthy balance between the roles of the Board and that
of executive management. From a
governance point of view, I believe
this arrangement will significantly
strengthen our entire management and governance structure.”
Show of Force
To date, Klaveness owns 14
specialized vessels and manages a
pool of more than 200 ships. This
translates into an amazing capability
to handle a wide range of shipping
and freight needs all over the world,
including sensitive cargo like volatile
fuels and chemicals. In fact, the majority of Klaveness ships are outfitted
for more than one industrial purpose.
For instance, MV Barkald is not only
industry-fit to haul and transport coal
but as a transloading unit, it can unload and discharge its cargo directly
into stockpiles without the need for
any local infrastructure. In fact, last
year, MV Barkald was able to accomplish something which few ships
are able to do: deliver millions of tons
of coal to the Praia Mole terminal in
Brazil, after a tornado caused severe
damage to the terminal and gantry
cranes. As the Praie Mole terminal
annually handles more than nine
million tons of coal to sustain Brazil’s
steel production, delays or cancellations in the arrival of fuel would have
had major economic and livelihood
impact on Brazilian companies.
The multi-purpose capability
of the majority of Klaveness’ owned
and managed ships also translates
into smaller carbon footprints and
more efficient operations. As Capt.
Del Prado explains: “If a Klaveness
vessel unloads its cargo at a distant
port, it rarely goes back to its destination empty. That’s because our ships
can carry solid and liquid substances, so you can load virtually any material for transport.” It has to be pointed out that this does not only mean The Blessing Ceremony
less wasted fuel or manpower; for
shippers transacting with Klaveness,
this means less wait time and faster
deliveries for goods and services. In
addition, the company prides itself in
having exceptional loading and unloading expertise: most of our vessels
are specialized for self-unloading or
transloading, while those who are
not are well-supported by Klaveness’
in-house body of extremely skilled
crane and payloader operators.”
Up Kaleidoscope
Scanning the horizon of
Klaveness over the next few years,
the view certainly seems bright and
promising. The new offices of Klaveness Maritime Agency, Inc. are expected to be seeing a lot of traffic as
the company is set to acquire another
self-loading vessel this August. Five
more vessels are expected to bulk
up the company-owned fleet next
year in addition to nine more ships
joining the Klaveness-managed
pool. As mentioned before, 90% of
Klaveness shipping crews are currently composed of Filipino sailors,
with the remaining 10% coming from
Poland, Romania, Czech Republic and India and other countries.
Clearly, Klaveness’ growth over the
next few years presents great opportunities for our skilled seagoing brethren looking for placement.
TINIG NG MARINO 43
SeamenGÇÖs Wives Association of Klaveness with Mr. Trond
Harald Klaveness
KMA Officials with some other guest and friends in Maritime
Insdustry
Mr. Trond Harald Klaveness in his inspirational message
Engr. Nelson Ramirez with Capt. Del Prado and Capt. Sabay
44 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
ENTERTAINMENT
Janelle Manahan:
SURVIVOR
t was suppose to be a story
of how love can surpass trials
but on the evening of October
28,2011 Janelle Manahan and
Ramgen Revilla’s love story ended in tragedy.
Janelle miraculously survived being shot on the face while
Ramgen died upon arrival at the
hospital.
Months after the tragedy,
Tinig ng Marino got the chance to
chat with Janelle who up to now
is still fighting for her safety, for
justice and for her day-to-day life
after losing the love of her life.
A lesser person would be
depressed but Janelle remains
strong and positive, steadfastly
believing that one day justice
would be served.
TNM: What’s it like? Waking up
every day, going through your daily life after that fateful evening?
Janelle: Actually I get reminded
of it most before sleeping, when
everything’s quiet na and I’m
about to sleep.
TNM: How do you prep yourself
every day? I mean you just lost
someone you really loved and the
way it happened was very traumatic…
Janelle: I always look at it in a
positive way even though it’s very
tragic. Everything happens for a
reason naman. There is a reason
I
why this happened to us.
TNM: What are you future plans
now?
Janelle: Right now I’m planning
to go back to school. I’m also going to work on my fashion line.
I’m keeping myself busy right now
because sometimes when I’m not
doing anything that’s when I start
thinking and remembering again.
TNM: You’re also into designing?
Janelle: Yes I also do that but
what I’m going to start online will
be from different suppliers. Eventually, I’m planning to expand it.
TNM: Are you still being bothered
by the “other side?”
Janelle: I just got a letter from
their lawyer, I consider it as a
threat because they’re not suppose to do that especially since
they weren’t suppose to know
where I was...
TNM: It’s a veiled way of telling
you that they know how to get to
you...
Janelle: Yes that’s why I don’t really feel safe now even at home.
TNM: That’s really scary...
Janelle: Yes but now I just pray.
I’m very blessed to have very
supportive family and friends...
TNM: Do you dream of Ramgen?
Janelle: Yes, I still have dreams
about him once or twice a week.
I’d dream na he’s still alive or he’s
back for 24 hours.
TNM: What was going through
your mind that evening?
Janelle: I knew that I was going to
survive, I knew that I’d have to live
with a new face na. I also thought
Ram would survive. Ram kasi is
a fighter eh, I really thought he’d
survive
TNM: When you were younger
did you ever think you’re the type
who can be that matapang?
Janelle: No. I’m very afraid of
blood. Everything surprised me
like how I did it and how I’m handling my situation right now. I never thought I can be this tough.
TNM: How can you compare
yourself before and after it happened?
Janelle: Before the incident happened, I was going to go back to
showbiz. Siyempre that was put
on hold after what happened for
security reasons din coz when
I go back to showbiz I’d be surrounded by so many people, it
won’t be safe for me. It’d be a
long time again before I can fully
trust people because those whom
I trusted before were also the
ones who...did this to us...
TNM: You’re still very young, can
you see yourself being with another guy?
Janelle: I’ve asked myself that but
right now I don’t think I’m capable
of loving someone else pa. I am
still very attached to Ramgen.
TNM: What is your advice to our
readers who are going through
trials in their lives?
Janelle: Just think positive. Always believe that you can overcome any trial you face. God is
always with you and everything
happens for a reason. Things
that may not make sense now,
will eventually make sense.
Just believe that you can
surpass anything.
TNM: Can you say you
can forgive the ones involved?
Janelle: Yes, I have already forgiven them
but that doesn’t
mean they can get
away with it. I had
to struggle at first
but my grandmother
told
me it’s important to forgive
them because
if I don’t Ramgen’s soul
wouldn’t
be at
Happy moment with Ramjem Revilla
peace.
TNM: What’s your message to all
our readers?
Janelle: Thank you so much for
all the support! I really value
your messages, they give me
strength.
TINIG NG MARINO 45
MAY - JUNE 2012
VIEW FROM HOME
Back to my first love
FROM PAGE 14
lar voyages to neighboring countries
in Southeast Asia and the Far East.
You, along with other Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), are
hailed as our “bagong bayani” or
new heroes. It is not hard to understand why. Figures from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA)
show that Filipino seafarers raked
in more than US$3.8 billion in revenue for the country in 2010 alone.
The Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) reports that remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hit a new record high of
$20.117 billion in 2011, about 7.2% or
$1.254 billion higher than the $18.763
billion in 2010. BSP officer-in-charge
Juan de Zuniga attributed the substantial rise in remittances to a 14%
increase in inflow from sea-based
workers, as compared to a 5.5%
increase from land-based workers.
The figures are indeed impressive. Still, they can give us only
a glimpse of the courage and singleminded determination demonstrated
by Filipino seafarers as they face the
everyday challenges of the workplace.
From my grandmother’s
sleepy hometown of Sampaloc,
Quezon to the spectacular cities of
Holland, Norway and South Africa I
have encountered so many Filipino
seafarers with their own accounts
of adventures and misadventures.
Your sob stories of lonely months
at sea are as many as the colorful tales of discovery of new lands
and new cultures. But always, what
comes shining through is your love
for your families and your country.
As we celebrate International Labor Day on May 1, I’d like
to pay tribute to all our workers, both
at home and abroad, who’s efforts
at giving their families and communities a good life truly makes them
heroes. Mabuhay po kayong lahat!
You can follow Teddy Casiño on Facebook (facebook.com/
followteddycasino), Twitter (@teddycasino) or email him at tedic@
yahoo.com. He maintains a blog at
46 TINIG NG MARINO
PACCShip Goal:
MAY - JUNE 2012
Become an accident-free ship operator
Inducing safety culture and system
to become Enterprise of Excelence
P
ACC Shipping recently holds
Seagoing Officers’ Seminar on April 25 to 27, 2012
at the Traders Hotel, Manila with a
theme “Enterprise of Excellence.”
Senior Manager for Crewing Department, Capt. Anthony
Khoo, explains that enterprise refers to organisation and they are
further inducing culture of safety
among senior officers to promote
excellence in all their endeavors.
“In order to achieve that, we
must make sure in terms of ship operations that our ships run smoothly. So we are consistently training
our crew to ensure competence in
carrying out their jobs. Our objective here is to reduce the number
of accidents or incidents below the
industry standard until we become
accident-free and/or incident-free
ship managers,” says Capt. Khoo.
The senior manager for crewing is
encouraging their pool of mixed crew
to help them achieve their vision of becoming an Enterprise of Excellence.
“Our business is ship operations.
So in order to say our business in
operating ships are excellent, we
need to have some benchmark,
some measurement, before we
can say we are a good company. In
our industry, we are normally measured by accidents or incidents.
So if our ships do not have accident or incident such as oil spill,
grounding, collision, and passing
port state inspection and/or oil major inspection without any deficiencies, among others, then we can say
we are a good company,” he adds.
Capt. Khoo believes it may be
quite impossible to achieve zero
accident/incident but it should be
their goal and that whether they
can achieve it or not, that must always be their target. As ship managers, they send competent people
onboard to run the ship smoothly
from point A to point B. They carry
out cargo operations properly with
less down time, less breakdown,
and on-time delivery of goods.
He further explains the importance of satisfying their customers especially now when
the shipping business is down.
“When the shipping is down,
demand for crew and company becomes even more challenging. Giving an anology, a typical example of
which is that when you’re taking a
taxi. During lean hours, you see many
taxis on the road. You can choose to
get a nice taxi. But if you’re in a hurry
and you need to go somewhere immediately and you can hardly see
any nice taxi, you have no choice but
to take any taxi that comes along.”
“The same is true with shipping
now is down. There’s a lot of ships.
So charterers will choose the best
ship that fits their requirement. So
we have to compete among others. When you say the best ship, it
means they are looking at a number
of things such as if the ship’s crew
is well-managed or not, whether
they are competent or not, whether you can run the ship properly or
not. So we have to compete against
other companies because now, we
have more ship than business, and
more ships than
cargo. Those are
the
challenges,”
cites Capt. Khoo.
Nonetheless,
the senior manager reported that
as a whole, he believes they are doing okay. The commercial department
of their company
is doing quite well.
“We were able
to charter our ships
but of course, it
is still tough. That
means we have to
continue to maintain
our standard in order for our commercial guys to continue
to acquire business
for our ships,” says
the 54-year-old senior managers.
Needless to say, it also follows that maintaining their standards
would
mean
continuous employment for their fleet.
Under PACCShip, they managed about 50 ships around the
world. They have various types of
ships from bulk carriers to multipurpose vessels, tankers, containers, among others. They have an
80% retention rate of crew, which is
composed largely of seafarers from
the Philippines and China. Some
are Indonesian, Singaporean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Romanian, and
Burmese, among other nationalities.
The success of having mixed
crew onboard is instilling harmony
among them through seminars, teambuildings, among others. Since shipping is international, every maritime
professionals regardless of nationalities, is being trained to feel, work, and
behave like international employees.
The challenge, as far as ship
management is concern, is to ensure
that every crew is trained properly.
Through regular seminars, which are
being held not only in the Philippines,
but also to the respective countries
of their foreign seafarers, all essential information is being shared.
To mention a few, the recent
seminar discussed what they need
onboard the ship in order to achieve
the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC)
2006 Certification. They were asked
and briefed what the steps are, the
requirements, and what they need
to do onboard the ship to make sure
that they comply (with MLC 2006).
“Of course the company will
have to work to ensure that we meet
a certain requirement. The company
is willing to comply with MLC 2006.
The crew are more or less ready
because MLC is a law and some
of the regulations are already existing. So it’s not really totally new.
MLC 2006 is basically consolidating a number of regulations into
one convention,” assures Capt.
Khoo who have sailed for 13 years.
About compliance to STCW
2010 Manila Amendments, Capt.
Khoo says they have to look into
the requirements and then plan out
for new additional training requirements. These are on top of the continuous implementation and observance to the ISM Code, the Safety
Management System, their company manuals, instructions, procedures, and discipline, among others.
“In order to become an Enterprise of Excellence, we need to
take that route. It is not an overnight
thing. we need to continuously work
and continuously improve in order
to achieve excellence. It’s a journey.
Everybody has to contribute.
The company has to contribute,
the crew onboard has to contribute, so we have to do many things
and everybody should work together as we try to achieve our
common
objective,”
concludes
the Singaporean Senior Manager.
– Jun G. Garcia
TINIG NG MARINO 47
MAY - JUNE 2012
Capt. Leuel Oseña is indicted for libel
FROM PAGE 4
and from various maritime institutions all over the country by giving
lectures to maritime students.
Through the years, Mr. Leuel
Oseña has been brandishing in
some newspapers that he graduated summa cum laude from the
Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI).
This issue has raised the eyebrows
of the graduates from that school
because they never heard of any
graduate who received such recognition. There was even a story
that sometime in 2008, Leuel Oseña went to his alma mater and
asked somebody from PMI that he
be given such an award because
he believed that he deserved it but
he was not granted.
He also boasted the he
bested the debating team of U.P.,
Ateneo and La Salle. An incredible achievement as to why the law
students of these prominent institutions would engage in a debate
with a second year maritime student from PMI.
What is more intriguing is
he had been bragging through the
years that Texas Instruments offered to buy his software OMARSOFT for $ 10,000,000.00 (ten
million dollars) way back in the mid
90’s and one European firm offered
to buy it also for $ 50,000,000.00
(fifty million dollars) which could
have made him a billionaire before
Manny Pacquiao earned his first
billion. Unfortunately, he refused
the offer because he was afraid
that his software might end up in
the hands of Chinese seafarers
and the Filipino seafarers’ job will
end up in jeopardy.
In the mid-nineties Oseña
was able to sell his software like
hot cakes to seafarers at a price
ranging from Php 1,205.00 to as
much as Php 6,027.00. The complete OMARSOFT package though
would entail the seafarer a significant investment of Php 79,556.00.
Eventually, the sales of
OMARSOFT software dwindled
when his customers found out that
by the time they bought this software, they became practically hos-
taged by Oseña. They could not
use it continually because it had
bars indicating usage consumption with corresponding cost. They
complained that it was like a jukebox or a prepaid cellphone which
would be useless unless you continue on paying.
This legal battle started with
an opinionated article of Mr. Leuel
Oseña in the defunct Maritime Observer that the economic crisis that
started in the year 2008 was only
artificial and there would be a great
leap in economic activity by Febru-
ary 2009 that the world has never
seen.
He said that with the election
of Obama as the president of the
United States of America, the world
would be excited and the economy
would “boom like hell.”
Ramirez refused to swallow the crap from Oseña and unmasked him as a false prophet and
a believer of his own lies, he who
carries a bagful of rhetoric with him
in the local maritime industry. This
is now a battle between the stories
he concocted in his fertile mind
against the voluminous evidence
that I have in my hand Ramirez
said.
Several stakeholders from
the local industry are also supporting Ramirez in this legal move because they simply had enough of
Oseña. One industry stakeholder
even said that “you can do whatever you want to do with Oseña –
grill him, maim him or even crucify
him – but you cannot just take the
boastfulness in him, unless you kill
or bury him. “Sobra ang yabang ng
taong yan.”
48 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Floating Dream Houses
D
o you remember the movie “WATERWORLD”,
starring Kevin Costner , Dennis Hopper and
Jeanne Tripplehorn way back in 1991? Kevin
Kosner would love living in this luxurious tropical 5 star
super yacht and an island rolled into one that can travel
around the world. This “ dream house boat can accomodate 10 guests with 57,000 square feet of usable space.
Of course it is not cheap. It would cost several hundreds
of millions of Euros to build.
There are wooden houseboats and many of
which are stationary and are rented as hotel suites. In
Kashmir houseboats have a front porch, elaborate handcraved cedar paneled walls, a sitting room, dining room
pantry and bedroom which can be rented for around $
138 to $ 208 per night.
This architectural houseboat is constructed form
two catamaran beams, stainless steel and glass from the
Dubai firm. It can be used as a weekend home or an
event space. It has bedrooms, a hidden kitchen, a dining
area and a spiral leading to a sun deck.
The MAHI-MAHI
UFS launched the first locally house yacht way
back in January 2009 when Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez
was the president of Access Marine.. Mahi-Mahi was a
very stable house yacht because it has five catamaran
beams.
It boasts of aesthetically-designed interiors in the
living room, the kitchen with a countertop and appliances,
the bunk, and the comfort room at the lower deck. There
are also comfortable seats in front of the lower decks
like a porch to a house where the visitors can enjoy the
view.
Up on its second deck, Mahi-mahi features a
spacious bedroom, another living room and a toilet and
a bath. On the sun deck three open beds and cushion
seats where you can go sunbathing and enjoy the view
of Manila bay.
It is powered by Panther marine diesel engine which
only consumes 25 liters per hour and has very cost efficient generator which only consumes three liters per
hour.
One company in Europe can provide sketches
and renderings for several other fanciful floating creations, such as the one called The Streets of Monaco and a futuristic sea-pod called Project Utopia. The
sketches alone could cost $ 75,000.00 to $ 120,000.
Mahi -Mahi
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 49
50 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Net Ship Holds Officers
and Crew Conference 2012
n the shipping industry, nothing beats having a deep sense
of shared experience, purpose
and direction among key stakeholders in ensuring business
sustainability during challenging
times. At Net Ship Management,
Inc., this business idea is a wellpracticed art, thanks to its range of
programs that seek to bind its key
stakeholders together—principals,
officers and crew (and their families), and management and staff.
Last March 16-23 was a hectic
time for Net Ship, it being its Principals Week. During the week, representatives of Net Ship’s principals
met for a day among themselves
as the Net Club, followed by interaction with the families of its seafar- Net Ship Management Inc. and its Principals Officers and Crew Conference/Workshop in Diamond
ers in a Fiesta Filipiniana themed Hotel Manila
Net Fam gathering. Then they joined
the two-day Officers and Crew around the country, as a means March 20 and 22. Some 161 offi- and heavy, the participants came
Conference 2012 before rounding- for providing social services to cers and crew, together with rep- away highly satisfied with it, as
off the week with a meeting with them. These include counseling resentatives from five of its princi- the evaluation results indicate.
the firm’s management and staff. and personal, social, educational pals, and management and staff
The Net Club is made up and spiritual enrichment activities. attended the two-day gathering. Day 1
exclusively of the company’s prin- NetFam has been an important veFollowing the welcome reAccording to Dr. Rosalia T.
cipals, meeting twice a year, al- hicle for the effective dissemination Caballero, Net Ship Managing Di- marks by Dr. Caballero, governternately in Europe and the Phil- of information on company poli- rector, “the conference is a time for ment and industry partners took
ippines. The company website cies and procedures and events the whole Net Ship family to take a turns in giving inspirational mesdescribes the Net Club as “a venue and for facilitating two-way com- pause, focus on the issues we need sages, which invariably included
for promoting their common goal munication flow with management. to be paying attention on, and touch updates on the actions being taken
and pursuit of quality and for the
The Net Club and NetFam base with partners in government, by their respective organizations
sharing of experiences, sugges- meetings last March were held at the industry and principals…all in line of on pressing shipping industry istions and evaluations… It serves Shangri-la Resort, Mactan, Cebu. with our efforts to keep Net Ship as sues and concerns. These partas the consultative body for the Net Ship’s Officers and Crew
a beacon of quality in the industry.” ners included Director Nini Llanto,
growth and development of Net Conference 2012
The two-day conference of the Pre-Employment Office of
Ship, its members’ businesses and
Unlike in previous years, featured presentations, work- the Philippine Overseas Employthe shipping community as a whole Net Ship’s Officers and Crew shops, principals’ meeting with ment Administration (POEA); C/E
Net Ship has also organized Conference 2012, took place in a their seafarers, and the recogni- Miguel Marasigan, Chairman of the
the families of their seafarers into new venue, the Grand Ballroom tion of loyal seafarers. While the Board of Marine Examiners of the
the Net Fam with seven chapters of Diamond Hotel in Manila last schedule seemed full-packed Professional Regulation Commis-
I
NSM Principals in attendance
NSM Principals in attendance
Netship attendees
TINIG NG MARINO 51
MAY - JUNE 2012
stakeholders—eyeball-to-eyeball.
Nini A. Lanto, OIC
Pre-Employment Services,POEA
Capt. Jonas Engstrom on “Piracy Onboard M/T Gotland Sofia
Guest speakers during the opening ceremony
sion (PRC); Director Elmer Talavera, of the Competency Assessment
Office of the Technical and Educational Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Atty. Jesus Sale,
vice president for Internal and Legal Affairs of AMOSUP. Capt. Kenneth Thoren, Net Club Coordinator,
also gave an inspirational message
In light of the problem of
maritime piracy that has been
plaguing the shipping industry for
a number of years now, this year’s
conference placed emphasis on
this scourge, taking up most of
Day 1, and was discussed from
three angles—that of an actual
piracy incident, the humanitarian
response and crisis management.
Capt. Jonas Engstrom, DP
and Vetting Manager of Wisby
Tankers AB, provided a highly informative and rare inside look of an
actual piracy incident involving one
of their ships through his presentation “Piracy Onboard M/T Gotland
Sofia.” (In the course of his talk,
he presented Elect. Junbe Gerasta and MTM Janno Ray Mata,
conference participants who were
part of the M/T Gotland crew when
the traumatic incident happened.)
Mr. Roy Paul, Programme
Manager of the Maritime Piracy:
A Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP), outlined the
formal recognition by the international shipping community of the
need to provide care to seafarers
and their families before, during
and after a critical incident,together
with the programmes in place in response to this need. His talk was
entitled simply as “Maritime Piracy: The Humanitarian Reponse.”
In her presentation in the afternoon on “Crisis Management:
Pirate Attack Preparedness,” Dr.
Caballero, whose doctorate is in
psychology, laid down the elements in building a case for adopting a crisis management mindset,
The Officers and crew during the workshop
particularly in the face of maritime
piracy. She helped the audience
understand the “small picture” of
a crisis—what it is to a human being and its effects, manifestations
and implications—to the “large
picture” of global maritime piracy,
including statistics, extent of damage to the shipping industry, and
measures adopted to minimize
its risks. She exhorted her audience to continue to be forwardlooking by developing, adopting, refining plans for handling,
containing and resolving crises.
In order to elicit participation
from the attendees, in the latter part
ot her segment, Caballero described
six scenarios depicting the following: ship crashing on dock, ship hitting the bridge, collision, oil tanker
explosion, ship sinking and pirates
attacking ship. The conference
participants were then divided into
groups to discuss how they would
manage the scenario assigned to
them based on a list of guide questions. After the lively small-group
discussions, each group named a
reporter to present the results of
their discussions to the plenary.
The last activity of the day
was the small group meetings between the principals and their seafarers. The principals that were
representated included: Furetank
Rederi AB (Sweden), Wisby Tankers AB (Sweden), DSD Shipping
(Norway), Unitankers (Denmark),
and Thome Shipping Management
(Singapore). This was a rare time for
exchanging pleasantries and sharing information, concerns and expectations between the two sets of
A “COO”, Child of Owner,
among the crowd
Moving about quite prominently among the crowd was a
young man who looked like he was
still in school. He created a stir when
he started handing what looked
like t-shirts in plastic wrappers.
Earlier in the day, he was seated
among the principal’s representatives. But, one thought, wasn’t he
too young to be a representative?
Ah, maybe he’s just tagging along
with a legitimate representative?
Yes, at 21 he’s young, but
no, he’s not just a tag-along. The
young man is Motorman Jonatan
Hoglund, son of the owner of Furetank. He has known Filipino seafarers for as long as he can remember (he even personally knew the
majority of Conference 2012 participants) and started sailing with
them at the tender age of 14. It’s
no surprise, then, that he has the
highest respects for the Pinoy seaman. “The best Filipino sailors can
compare with the best there is from
my native Sweden,” he said in an
interview. “I am happy to see them
here and honored to give them the
recognition they deserve.” He estimated that Filipinos take up as
much as 75% of Furetank’s crew.
Asked what he liked best
about the Filipinos that Furetank
has hired since Micronesia Shipping (a predecessor of Net Ship’s)
days, he replied, “I like the high quality of their work, their uncomplaining nature, their happy disposition”.
When asked what would
he see as the Filipino seafarer’s
area for improvement, this firsttime Manila visitor paused before
answering, “Given the cultural differences and a bit of language
barrier, there could be miscommunications sometimes but that
is something both the Swedish
and Filipinos need to work on”.
Furetank was founded by
Hoglund’s great-grandfather some
60 years ago. It’s now being managed by his father and an uncle.
But their family can look back to as
far back as 300 years of sailing tradition. Given that, there can be no
doubt that this dashing young man,
would be carrying on with that tradition, even have a flourishing career
in shipping and, perhaps reach
the top at Furetank and beyond.
Day 2
The second day saw the
tackling of other important topics to the conference attendees,
namely, STCW 2010 updates,
balanced diet and safety culture.
TURN TO PAGE 61
52 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
MMAP CORNER
CAPT. RODOLFO A. ASPILLAGA
President, Masters and Mates Association of the Philippines (MMAP)
F
or BSMT cadet students, it
refers to an approved seagoing service of not less than
36 months in a position other than
a cadet or apprentice (e.g. general
purpose – deck, deck boy, ordinary
seaman, able seaman, quarter-master, boatswain) provided at least six
(6) months of which shall involve
the performance of bridge watchkeeping duties under the supervision of the master or a qualified officer. This would be documented
through the service record issued
by the shipping/manning company
to the student cadet concerned.
For BSMarE cadet students, refers to a combined workshop skills
training and an approved seagoing
service of not less than 36 months
in a position other than a cadet or
apprentice (e.g. general purpose
– engine, engine boy, engine fitter,
wiper, oiler, motorman, pumpman,
able seaman engine) provided, at
least six (6) months of which shall
involve the performance of engine
watchkeeping duties under the
supervision of the chef engineer
officer or a qualified engineer officer. This would be documented
through the service record issued
by the shipping/manning company
to the student cadet concerned. “
The above sections were able to
give the details of what are required
to fully satisfy the requirements for
the conferment of the Bachelor’s
degree to a maritime student which
would eventually be used as one
of the pre-requisites in taking the
Officer-In-Charge (OIC) licensure
examination at the Professional
Regulations Commission (PRC).
There are a few questions I want
to raise here: How could the manning company verify the six months
watchkeeping duties of the cadet
which they will issue in the form of
service record? What about if the
Master will issue the certificate before the student cadet disembarks
from the vessel? Should a student
deck cadet be at least a qualified helmsman before being certified deck watchkeeper under the
STCW Convention as amended?
The next concern I want to delve into
is the responsibility of the maritime
education and training (MET) providers or Maritime Schools as we call
them, in as far as the mandatory assistance that they should extend to
their student cadets for them to satisfy
the Shipboard Training requirements
CHED’S memo to MET providers: Facilitate
shipboard training to your cadets (Part 2)
of the BSMT/BSMarE programs.
Please allow me to quote further
the exact provision of the CMO:
“Section 4. General Requirements All maritime higher education institutions (HEIs) offering BSMT and/or
BSMarE program shall be required
to: Ensure that qualified students
completing the academic requirements for their bachelor’s degree
(BSMT or BSMarE) are provided
with opportunities to get cadetship/
apprenticeship through linkages or
partnership with manning/shipping
companies. The linkage or partnership shall be supported by a notarized Memorandum of Agreement or
Understanding (MOA/MOU) between
the maritime HEI and the partner
company/entity. Provided that maritime HEIs shall also have the option
to provide their own Training Ship.
The said training ship shall comply
with the basic requirements for training in terms of Gross tonnage (500
GT or more) propulsion power (750
kw or more). Provided further, that in
order to improve the shipboard training or cadetship program, maritime
HEIs, on its own initiative, may further engage in other arrangements
such as: (1) government programs
like assistance to provide a Training
Ship for use by participating group or
consortium of HEIs; (2) mandatory
and cadetship program on board
foreign vessels manned by Filipino seafarers;(3)
through linkages
with domestic and
foreign shipping
companies
for
Scholarship and/
or onboard cadetship program for
sponsored cadets;
and (4) other relevant schemes as
may be possible.
(a) Have and maintain a shipboard
training
office;
(b) Specify in their
quality standards
system (QSS) the
policies and procedures pertaining
to the enrolment,
embarkation, disembarkation, validity of TRB and
approval of twelve
months’ seagoing
service, validation
and approval of the thirty-six months
seagoing service and the assessment of student cadets for shipboard
training purposes; (1) Provide guidance and thorough orientation/familiarization of all its BSMT and BSMarE
students about the 12 months seagoing service especially on the proper
way of accomplishing and filling-in of
entries in the approved TRB and the
36 months seagoing service should
the students be employed in a position other than a cadet or apprentice;
Ensure that all student cadets undergoing twelve (12) months seagoing service shall be issued an
approved TRB before embarkation;
1. Conduct validation of the duly accomplished and signed TRBs (for
the 12 months seagoing service)
or the seagoing service (for the 36
months seagoing service) and the
assessment of tasks performed
and competencies acquired during
his/her seagoing service. The result of such validation and assessment shall be duly recorded and
must form part of the students’ record at the maritime HEI concerned.
The duly validated TRB must be
returned to the student cadet after the validation/assessment; and
Confer appropriate degree (BSMT or
BSMarE) to qualified student cadets.”
This section of the CMO is basically
saying that MET providers offering
BSMT and BSMarE courses “shall”
be able to provide or facilitate ship-
board training to their student cadets.
This is a tall order should it fail to embark their students for their shipboard
training. They are liable for sanctions
under the provisions of this CMO.
In order to strengthen the implementing arm of the HEIs, the CMO
detailed the responsibilities that
must be carried out by the Shipboard
Training Office of each institution and
the functions of the Shipboard Training Officer (STO). This is how it goes:
“Section 5. Shipboard Training
Office- The shipboard training office shall be responsible for the administration and coordination of the
activities and other requirements for
student cadets undergoing the shipboard training. Specifically, this Office shall: Arrange for and facilitate
the embarkation of student cadets;
1. Conduct thorough orientation/familiarization of student cadets pertaining to: the difference between
the twelve (12) months and Thirty six
(36) months seagoing service; enrolment for shipboard training purposes; the proper way of accomplishing
and filling-in of entries in the TRB,
validation of the TRB and the seagoing service, and the assessment
of student cadets among others;
to be continued on the next issue...
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 53
54 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Maritech: making an
officer out of sailors
Captain Edwin Itable
t was da Vinci who said, “He who
loves practice without theory is
like the sailor who boards ship
without a rudder and compass and
never knows where he may cast.”
Captains Edwin Itable and Mr.
Nestor Materiales may well have
da Vinci’s words of wisdom in mind
when they established Maritech six
years ago to train Filipino seafarers
to raise their level of competence
and uplift their status in the international maritime industry. Sharing the same vision, and strongly
believing in the value of education,
hard work and competence, Capt.
Walfredo Rivas soon joined the
two in this worthwhile partnership.
At Maritech, they believe
that every Filipino seafarer must
have not only practical experience but also, more importantly, knowledge and instruction to
confidently steer his ship across
the seven seas to his port of call.
Filipinos comprise a third of
the estimated 1.5 million seafarers manning some 50,000 merchant ships trading internationally.
According to Capt. Itable, there
is a need for Filipino seafarers to
move up the ladder, so to speak.
Capt. Itable’s observation that
there are fewer Filipino officers
seems to find support in a study
conducted by the Seafarers Inter-
I
national Research Center of the
Cardiff University in the United
Kingdom. According to the study,
while Filipinos lead the Top 10 nationality of seafarers, “their domination is less marked in relation to
senior officer position than others.”
Why don’t Filipinos step up to
the plate? Capt. Itable says, “They
probably doubt the education that
they were given or they probably
feel that they are ill-prepared. Sad to
say, there are maritime schools and
training centers that fail to provide
quality education for our seafarers”.
“We have to make our seafarers competent officers and this
is the reason why Maritech specializes in Management Level
Course that meets international
standards,” says Capt. Itable.
Passion for Education
The bubbly Capt. Itable and
the soft-spoken Capt. Rivas, both
seasoned ship masters share a
common passion for education.
Capt. Itable, who is not only
Maritech’s General Manager but
also one of its highly-qualified
instructors, says emphatically,
“You can be a good captain but
it doesn’t mean you are a good
teacher. You must have a passion
to teach. It is a calling, a vocation.”
He admits that Maritech is
a business but it is still an educational institution and learning
comes first. “In this business,
healthy competition is welcome,
but not cut-throat competition
where training standards are sac-
rificed at the expense of profit.”
Capt. Rivas says diploma mill
schools are a detriment to Filipino
seafarers and the shipping industry because they are sent out to the
world with a chink in their armor. It
is the reason why at Maritech, “We
work hard to provide Filipino seafarers the kind of training and preparation that they need not only to be
able to do their job but to excel in it.
There are no short-cuts, they cannot become competent that way.
They have to work hard to earn
their certificates of competency.”
Maritech Then and Now
Maritech began its operations in 2006 with a handful but
dedicated and highly-qualified instructors and only two classrooms
at Pedro Gil, Manila where a sixstorey building now houses airconditioned classrooms, a library,
registral, administrative offices and
training rooms equipped with state
of the art facilities like the seamless simulator. All classrooms have
wi-fi access to enable them to do
their Internet research with ease.
Indeed, the training center enjoys a steady
growth since its inception, even in terms of
enrollment. The 74
enrolees they had in
2006 almost doubled
in 2007 and was ten
times more another
year later. Last year,
Maritech trained 5,865
students in its Manila
Trainees performing exercise in electro pneumatic and hydraulic simulator
training site. They have a pool of
about 30 qualified instructors on top
of guest lecturers who provide input
and motivate the students. Since
the teacher to student ratio is 1:24,
Capt. Itable says that students are
assured that the classroom is conducive to learning and the teachers
can focus on their students’ needs.
By the Number. Maritech annual
enrollees since year one
Year
Number of Students
2006
74
2007
122
2008
766
2009
2,609
2010
4,065
2011
5,865
Branching Out
For seafarers in other parts
of the country to experience training the Maritech way, Maritech has
branched out to the Visayas and
Mindanao. Last year, Maritech
opened its training site in Cebu
City at the Pueblo Aznar Uno Building at the corner of MJ Cuenco and
Gen. Maxilom Avenues.
Early
The full mission bridge simulator for
virtual reality training
TINIG NG MARINO 55
MAY - JUNE 2012
this year, in February, Maritech
opened its doors to seafarers at
its training site in Ponciano Reyes
Street, Davao City. Both the Cebu
and Davao training centers offer
the following courses: Electronic
Chart Display and Information
System, Radar Navigation & Radar Plotting with the use of Arpa,
Consolidated MARPOL Annex I-VI,
Ship Security Officer with NAC
Assessment, Ship Simulator and
Bridge Teamwork with Bridge Resource Management and Practical
Assessment, In addition, Davao already offers Engine Room Simulator with Engine Resource Management and Practical Assessment.
Journey to learning
That everyone has the potential and the ability to succeed
is a philosophy that inspires Maritech to nurture the potential and
abilities of seafarers who are willing to go on a journey to learning.
Capt. Itable says that it takes
commitment and perseverance to
give life to said philosophy. Maritech’s commitment is manifested
in developing their MLC syllabus
that is in accordance with international standards, making sure
that their instructors have a mastery of the subject, are dedicated
and pursue effective methodology. On the other hand, Capt
Itable says that it is also “vital that
the trainee has aptitude and must
have the willingness and capacity to gain knowledge and skills.”
The good captain shares that
training centers such as Maritech
are faced with a stumbling block—
incompetent maritime schools produce BSMT and BSMARe graduates who are “not technically and
academically prepared to tackle the
MLC.” To surmount such challenge,
Capt. Itable says that Maritech conducts diagnostic tests to determine
a students training needs, adopt
methodologies such as a tandem
system where those who have a
good foundation would be paired
with those who need a little more
help, and an evaluation of trainees’
performances and achievements.
“We are very specific about what
the trainee must be able to do after
undergoing the course program.”
Chily Anne Rose Concepcion, a long-time staff at Maritech,
attests that she has seen many
enrollees come out of training as
more confident and able to easily secure employment. “I am inspired by the hard work that both
instructors and seafarers put into
their training and I am happy to
see that many of them are immediately deployed after undergoing
training.”
However, Concepcion
says that there are some seafarers who want to obtain training certificates but do not want to attend
classes. “We try our best to convince them that they must undergo
the training for their personal and
professional development. If they
insist on not attending, we deny
their application for admission.”
SWAP (Study, Work and Pay – or
study now, pay later program)
According to Concepcion,
cash-strapped seafarers were admitted by Maritech even if they only
had a 100-peso downpayment.
From there, Maritech thought of
implementing its own version of a
study now, pay later program called
SWAP (Study, Work and Pay). Today, said program is conducted in
cooperation with the Masters and
Mates Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MMAP), the accredited
professional organization of Filipino
merchant marine deck officers. The
MMAP only chooses well-equipped
and fully accredited training centers to work with on this program.
Classroom instructions in thermo dynamics and heat
transmission
Concepcion shares that even
when Maritech was very small
back then, the people at the training center had a big heart, especially Capt. Itable. “Many seafarers come to Maritech penniless but
since they are willing to learn and
improve, Capt. Itable opened the
doors of Maritech for them. Most
of the time, abonado pa kami kasi
magbabayad ka ng instructors,
kuryente, etc. Kahit isa lang ang
estudyante tinatanggap namin.
One on one ang turo ni Capt.
Itable, minsan sasabihin nya, o
Chily Anne, makinig ka dito para
dalawa naman ang estudyante ko,”
Concepcion recalls with a smile.
OIC Odillon Alingasa, a beneficiary of the SWAP said, “Malaking tulong ang SWAP project ng
Maritech, lalo na sa akin na bagong
pasa lang nun. Madaming gastos
sa review at boarding house pa.
Nung malaman ko ang SWAP,
agad akong nagpunta sa kanila.”
Alingasa said that Maritech
did not make it difficult for him to
avail of SWAP and he finished his
training without having to cough up
money. “May libre pang kape.” He
was very happy that the program
prevented him from incurring a
debt from loan sharks and he was
able to leave some amount for
his family to get by while he toiled
abroad. “Napakalaking tulong ang
ginawa nila, pinahiram sa akin ang
certificate ko na naipasa ko sa
PRC at nakasakay na ako. Kaya
pagbaba ko, nabayaran ko sila
agad kasi may pambayad na ako,
di kagaya pag nakatambay lang.”
In more ways than one, Maritech helped a lot of seafarers and
their families. It is because of this
goodwill sown by Maritech and
Capt. Itable, that former students
pay their dues on schedule and
even bring in more students to
Maritech. Capt. Itable says they
need not go out on a marketing
blitz because satisfied trainees
become their biggest advertisers.
Maritech and Sea Quest: Joining forces
Maritech found an ally in another maritime training company,
in its quest to provide competence to Filipino seafarers through
professional training. Much like
Maritech, Sea Quest Maritime
Training Inc. is committed to support their trainees to become
more confident and acquire advanced skills needed to compete
in the global shipping industry.
Sea Quest envisions itself
to become “a leading partner of
Hostelry and Filipino seafarers in
the development of their skills and
competence in response to the
demands of the hospitality and
maritime industry.” Its Training Director, Capt. Jaime Quinones says
their facilities are so designed to
“give every trainee the feeling of
being in a ship, enable them to
make judgments, anticipate and
plan their action when faced with
various situations at sea“.
A veteran ship master, Capt.
Quinones shares that “seafaring is not just work, it is a fulfilling profession and one with the
best pay.” He said that to help
boost confidence and competence of seafarers, he believes in
“always motivating people at work
to appreciate their profession”.
One in every five seafarers
on board ocean going vessels is
a Filipino who could either be content at eking a living or take pride
and excel in their profession –
their families depend on them for
support but the world depends on
their labor to transport its goods.
With education, training and competence, more Filipino seafarers
can become masters of their ship.
Hands on training with instructors on electro pnumatic
trainer
56 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Lafeber et al in jail
Arrests pave way for
Filipino sailors claims
Ronald Lafeber
r. Ronald Lafeber, owner
of the Gyron Crew Ltd. in
Netherlands, Gyron Shipping, Singapore and Gyron Crew
Inc., Manila was arrested in a series of crackdowns by the Dutch
IND (Investigation Department of
the Inspectorate of Social Affairs).
The Singapore-based Dutchman was the third person arrested following the arrests of Mr. Dolf Kornet,
chairman of the Gyron shipping group
and their secretary, Ms. Angela Greeg.
The three were accused of exploitation (a form of human trafficking) in the Dutch inland river trade.
The arrest was confirmed
by the Public Prosecutor. According to them, there will be more arrests following their current inquiry.
On the day that Mr. Dolf Kornet was arrested in his hometown in
Werkendam, Netherlands, the Court
of Appeals in Hertogenbosch also
pronounced judgment of a civil case
in which the three Filipino seafarers
who were recruited by the Gyron
Crew Manila would be paid tens of
thousands of Euros in back wages.
The Dutch National Police
and the Inspectorate of Social Affairs have been in a comprehensive investigation against exploitation in the inland shipping trade.
The weekly magazine in Netherlands Schuttvaer has followed the
case since it emerged few years
ago, particularly after complaints
from the workers union Nautilus.
Now that Dolf Kornet, the chairman of the Shipping group in Netherlands is under arrest, his job is temporarily taken over by Rolf Malieaard.
The members of the shipping group
of companies have no idea as to
whether Mr. Dolf Kornet will return
as chairman in case he is released.
M
Double Contract
The arrested chairman em-
Dolf Kornet
ployed Filipino seafarers in the inland river trade through its agency
in Manila Gyron Crew Inc., at a
salary below the minimum wage.
Their company in Werkendam,
Netherlands duped Filipino seafarers into signing two different contracts; one with a monthly salary of
1285 Euros and another with a basic monthly salary of USD $400.00.
The employment contract with the
higher wages was used to obtain
work permits in the Netherlands.
Mr. Ronald Lafeber is suspected of forgery, facilitation of unauthorized residence in the Netherlands
and exploitation in the form of human
trafficking, according to the Dutch Department of Justice. The Filipino seafarers were made to work long days
of 10 to 11 hours and 6 to 7 days a
week and work for 8 months straight
on board inland river ships which is
not allowed in the Netherland laws.
Gyron Crew Netherlands also
withheld their service record books,
residence permits and other documents during their period of leave
so that they could not complain to
the authorities. Working without permits in the Netherlands, like in any
other countries, would make them
illegal aliens. Some of the Filipino
crew who were able to get their
papers managed to apply in other
companies to get a good salary.
Confiscation of properties
The decision in the appeal at
the Court‘s-Hertogenbosch, confirm
the interim decision of August 12,
2010 by the District Court of Breda.
The decision was in favor of the
plaintiffs (Filipino sailors) against
Gyron Crew Inc. (Manila) and Gyron
Shipping (PTE) Ltd., (Singapore),
and Gyron Crew Ltd. in Netherlands.
In the appeal, the owner of the
companies, the Singapore resident
Angela Greeg
Dutchman Ronald Lafeber, fought
for the decision to be reversed in the
lawsuit filed by the four Filipino seafarers who were at that time still employed on board a Dutch inland river
barge to prevent further garnishment
of properties of Gyron companies.
Fined for Exploitation of Filipino
Seafarers
In the Tinig ng Marino issue
published last January-February, it
was said that the Gyron Crew BV, the
manning company of Ronald Lafeber, was meted a hefty fine of Euro
456,000 (about $ 579,850) by the Department of Justice of Netherlands for
non-compliance with the regulations
concerning the proper employment
of foreign nationals in the country.
The Department of Justice of
The Netherlands came to the decision after the Labor Inspectorate
and some elements of the Dutch
police raided its offices in Delft and
Werkendam based on the information that the company is actually engaged in slave-trade and
exploitation of Filipino seafarers in
the inland shipping of Netherlands.
Some 100 ships sailing in the
inland waters of Netherlands were
inspected by the authorities last year
and they found out that from the initial 38 barges they inspected, some
44 Filipino seafarers employed by
the Gyron Crew BV were found to
have incomplete papers and were
considered illegal aliens in the
country. On the same raid, the police also netted 11 Romanians, two
Slovakians and one Bulgarian who
were also improperly documented.
Around 120 Dutch shipping
companies were tapping the services of Gyron Crew BV to employ
Filipino seafarers on board their
vessels, which only means how lucrative the trade is for the recruiting
company earning millions of dollars
annually by exploiting seafarers.
In addition, the investigators found out that the recruiter
Gyron Crew BV did not explain or
interpret to the hired workers the
UWV labor agreements, which
was normally written in Dutch.
Early exploits
Tinig ng Marino started to expose the exploits of Ronald Lafeber
as early as in the late 90’s. In the
November-December 1998 issue,
TNM ran a story of the case filed by
Mrs. Luz Alicer who sought for the
blacklisting of C-Link Singapore, the
former company of Ronald Lafeber,
for non-payment of manning processing and communication fees,
non-remittance or late payments
of salaries, withholding taxes and
SSS contributions, unauthorized
deductions from seafarer’s salaries, illegal recruitment through unlicensed agency C-Lines and direct
intervention in Crewlink operations.
Instead of paying for what he
owed from Mrs. Luz Alicer, Ronald
Lafeber bought another manning
agency named Jzel which was then
owned by Capt. Rodolfo Estampador.
In October 30, 1998, Atty.
Reynaldo Regalado, then administrator of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) handed
a decision after a long drawn investigation, the blacklisting of C-Link
from recruiting Filipino seafarers and
a fine of Php 100,000.00. The blacklisting covered also the company’s
entire officials including Ronald Lafeber, Fred Rookhuijzen, wife Ellen,
brother Peter and Florence Molina.
Regalado ruled that Jzel, then
headed by Capt. Rodolfo Estampador, and C-Link connived with each
other to mislead POEA officials into
accrediting the Seri Kemarin 804, a
non-existent offshore tugboat purportedly operated in Brunei waters
by Wisjsmuller Marine Services.
Tinig ng Marino also discovered that the ploy enabled Jzel to deploy four seafarers in January 1999
to work on genuine tugboats represented by Crewlink Inc. Seri Mutiara 803 and Seri Kemangan 801.
Instead of paying his dues
to Mrs. Luz Alicer, Ronald Lafeber merely changed the name of
his companies from C-Link to Gyron and Gyrom PTE., continued
his crafty business and filed a libel case against Engr. Ramirez.
Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez is
wondering why Ronald Lafeber is
still allowed to operate in the country
considering the so many legal cases
he is involved and found guilty in.
In his letter to POEA administrator Atty. Hanz Leo Cacdac, he
sought for the revocation of the license of Gryron Crew Inc., Manila
and the permanent banning of Ronald
Lafeber in the recruitment business.
TINIG NG MARINO 57
MAY - JUNE 2012
An unholy alliance (part 2)
FROM PAGE 39
disability claims for different manning agencies. On October 25,
2005, C. Philip Sarmiento filed a
case of disability after barely two
months on board. It was also reported that Sarmiento made another settlement with another manning agency for the same disability.
Capt. Casareo filed a complaint to
PANDIPHIL to stop his treatment
by NGC (P&I accredited clinic)
but to his surprise, he was told to
continue. Capt. Casareo did not
agree, for he believed that Sarmiento’s claim was bogus. He pursued the case through PANDIPHIL
lawyer, Atty. Florencio Aquino until
the case was dismissed on March
31, 2006 with finality because
the complainant did not appear.
The alleged lawyers who connived and initiated the dirty transactions are now facing disbarment
case before the Supreme Court.
The P&I Representatives of
Japan have expressed their gratitude
after receiving the reports attended
by Capt. Casareo and Atty. Balbin.
The cases mentioned are
now officially filed in a Philippine
trial court which is expected to be
favorable and just for both parties.
The exposé by TINIG NG
MARINO regarding Unholy Alliance
has helped to correct the unacceptable system and transactions in the
maritime industry. This has affected the image of the entire Filipino
maritime community. The job market has been jeopardized as foreign shipowners might go to China,
Indonesia, Malaysia or Bangladesh
for their manning requirements.
The culprit must have earned and
enjoyed millions of pesos but it
won’t be long that these would
be converted to criminal liability.
The initiative and efforts by
Philippine maritime associations
have given us the chance to compensate the damage it has produced and to restore the integrity
and respect among the Filipino seafarers. It should not affect the majority who bring positive avenues of respect unlike these unholy alliances.
58 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
FAME Tournament
By: Alvin Patrimonio
T
he Filipino Association
for Mariners’ Employment, Inc.(FAME ) concluded their 8th FAME Golf
Invitational Tournamet at the
Dario Alampay of Joint Manning
Group (JMG) had the longest
drive while the player who got
nearest to the pin was Capt.
Jimmy Boada of Grace Marine and Shipping Corp. Most
promising player was Atty.Erwin
F. Pobre of CSC Manila, Inc.
For Class A, Capt Banny B. Briones of Multinational
Maritime, Inc. led the group
followed by Capt.Lou Atienza
of Eurasian Maritime Corp.,
Capt. Jimmy R. Boado of Grace
Marine and Shipping Corp.
came in as 2nd runner-up.
Mr. Rick Loyola of Vestland Maritime Corp. was the
champion for Class B with Peewee Surbiron, a guest of Centennial Transmarine, Inc. and
Mr. Dario R. Alampay of Joint
Manning Group as runners-up.
The winners proudly show off their trophies
Orchard Golf and Country Club The Class C champ
in Dasmarinas City, Cavite. was CF Sharp
Crew Ma
Eighty-four players teed nagement Inc. Mr.KJell Hjartoff at seven in the morning ness, 1st runner-up was Capt.
amid the mango
trees and parkland lay-out of the
Palmer Course.
Capt. Norie Casalme of
Phil.
Transmarine Carriers, Inc.
led the low gross
while Capt.Tsutomu Harada of
Grace
Marine
and
Shipping
Corp. had the low
net and most ac- From left: Robert Vincent Eusebio, Engr. Bing Manlicmot,
curate drive. Mr. NPR and Capt. Nanding Eusebio before the tee off.
Sabino M.Manglicmot of Midway
Maritime
Foundation,
Inc. 2nd runner-up was United Filipino Seafarers President Engr. Nelson P. Ramirez.
For Class D, the champion was Mr. Robert Vincent
B.Eusebio of Trans Star Shipping Agency Corp., 1st runner-up was Engr. Sosimo
Quiblan of Tri Maritime Corporation and 2nd runner-up
was Capt. Rafael C.Dino of CF
Sharp Crew Management, Inc.
Women’s Division cham-
pion was Ms. Michelle Castillo of Eurasian Maritime Corp.
with Ms. Ma. Cristina A. Basillio of BPI and Ms. Rafonchelle
Lim of Great Southern Maritime
Services, Corp. as runners-up.
For the sponsors and
guests division; Mr.Paul Schenk
of Lufthansa German Airlines
bested everyone followed by
Mr. Manuel Otayza of All Japan Seamen’s Union Manila
Welfare Office and Mr. Beda
Melgar of Mariner’s and Allied
Transport Employees Union.
Vision
Goal
Hardwork
Reward
By: Kirby Raymundo
ears ago, I was a high school
student working as a construction worker during summer.
That time, playing basketball and
joining the PBA was just a dream.
It wasn’t easy but I was
able to make my dream a reality.
With the right set of mind, determination and hard work, I believe
anyone can be what they want to be.
The Bible says “You will
reap what you sow”. God promises rewards to those who do
good and are willing to work hard.
Vision
God gave my coach Molet Pineda a vision that I will play in the
PBA in three years’ time. I was 16years old then in Letran College.
I embraced that vision
and trusted that God uses people.
Goal
To enter the PBA in three years
time.
Plan
To join the basketball team practice six times a week with Sunday
as our rest day. To lift weights 2 to
three times a week to build strength
and muscles.To do basketball skills
workouts twice or thrice a week.
Hard work
Hardwork is repetition. Repetition is
king. If you want to be a shooter, you
practice shooting. If you want to be
strong, go and lift weights. I just kept
doing my plan during off season and in
season, in other words all year round.
My experiences while working as a
Y
construction worker pushed me to
work harder every day while practicing or while I’m in the weights room.
Why?
I didn’t want to be a construction worker, I wanted to be a basketball player.
Reward
Basketball achievements in college,
at 16 I was awarded: Rookie of the
Year in the NCAA. At 17, I was one of
the Mythical Five and NCAA Champion. I got the Most Valuable Player
of the Year, NCAA Champion and
other awards at 18-years-old. It was
also at that time when I entered the
PBA after three years in college I did
my best and God took care of the
rest.
Sinong magaling?
Siyempre si GOD Jesus Christ our
Lord and Savior!
WHY?
1. God put vision to my coach and I
took and embraced that vision.
2. God gives me strength to work
hard in practice and in lifting
weights.
3. God gives me the wisdom in playing basketball.
4. God gave me the talent to play
basketball.
Now I ask you, what is your Vision?
Your goal? Your plan?
Remember: Nasa Diyos ang awa,
nasa tao ang gawa.
TINIG NG MARINO 59
MAY - JUNE 2012
he National MaritimePolytechnic, through the leadership
of its OIC-Executive Director
Forter G. Puguon, Sr.,moved fullspeed ahead with the implementation of the NMP Development Plan
2012-2016 by holding a Tripartite
Stakeholders Consultative Forum
on March 13, 2012 at the AMOSUP Seamen’s Center, Intramuros,
Manila. In attendance were 30 participants from the tripartite groups
of the government, employers and
seafarers.
Undersecretary Danilo P.
Cruz of the Department of Labor
and Employment in his Keynote
Address expressed the importance
of the forum, “We are consulting
you because we believe that any
strategic intervention we wish to
implement to enhance the comparative advantage of our seafarers should also embrace your
views and opinions. Your presence
today confirms your commitment
towards ensuring the competence
and competitiveness of our seafarers in both the domestic ship-
T
ping industry and international maritime labor market.” The consultative
process revolved on three (3) important NMP concerns, which include
its 2012-2016 Development Plan, as well as two (2) of its most important
components, the 2012-2014 Research Agenda and its Budget for 2013.
The proposed NMP Development Plan is anchored on the Philippine
Labor and Employment Plan (PLEP) 2011-2016, particularly on the specific
outcome on employment, which is that of Increased levels of, Opportunities
for and Access to Decent and Productive Employment. All these are also within the framework of Inclusive Growth through Decent and Productive Work,
which subsequently supports the national goals of Inclusive Growth, Poverty
Reduction and Job Creation of the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016.
Going into the plan’s impact on the industry, Undersecretary
Cruz stated, “This plan will have significant effect on the seafarers, manning and shipping companies, as well as partner government institutions.
We want your inputs considered in the final version of the proposed plan.”
The plan takes off from the fact that the NMP, as a maritime institution, serves not only the country’s maritime industry, but
also the maritime international community. Having both local and
global dimensions in its mandate, the NMP will now endeavor to produce competitive and competent seafarers and other maritime allied
workforce to achieve secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans.
Towards advancing the cause of seafaring, Undersecretary
Cruz also solicited valuable inputs in shaping the Research Agenda,
one of the primary components of the plan. He pointed out, “Included in
this Development Plan is the NMP’s Research Agenda outlining the researches and studies on the latest technologies and other maritime-related matters to be undertaken. We give much value to this as we take
into account that any program intervention should be founded on relevant data to ensure that these are what our seafarers really need.”
In line with the government’s policy
of enhancing the quality of the budget process by engaging stakeholders in participatory budgeting, Usec
Cruz said, “We also thought it best to
consult you on the NMP’s proposed
budget for 2013 to ensure that the
budget allocated is responsive to
our seafarers’ development needs.”
Identifying
areas
of
convergence
in
implementing
programs
on
maritime
training
and assessment, maritime research and institutional support programs through a Memorandum of
Understanding capped the day’s
activity. “Together, let us explore
specific programs and projects
where we can collaborate and
meaningfully complement each
other’s efforts. Together, let us
strengthen tripartite cooperation towards the development of our domestic and international maritime
industry,” Usec Cruz stressed.
After a successful consultative forum, the NMP is currently in
the process of finalizing the MOU for
signatures of the tripartite groups.
60 TINIG NG MARINO
WALANG LINYA
Unang araw ni Oscar sa opisina
bilang company lawyer.
Secretary: Sir, may bisita po tayo.
Gusto kayong kausapin.
Dinampot kaagad ni Oscar ang
telepono. Kunyari may kinakausap na kliyente. Medyo pinatagal
ang pakikipag-usap. Pabilib na
maraming ginagawa. Pagkatapos
ng ilang minuto saka lang hinarap
ang bisita.
Oscar: Ano po ang kailangan
nila?
Bisita: Ikakabit ko lang sana ang
linya sa teleponong ginagamit
ninyo. Medyo busy yata kayo.
FIRE EXIT
Babae: Sunog! Sunog!
Lalake: Miss, dun tayo dumaan
sa fire exit para mabilis tayong
makalabas at makaligtas.
Babae: Ayoko nga!
Lalake: Bakit?
Babae: Haler! Daanan kaya ng
apoy yun.
MAY - JUNE 2012
LAMAY
Anak: Tay, alam mo ba yung klasmeyt ko namatay yung tatay, di
man lang nag-imbita di tuloy ako
nakakain ng biskwit at nakainom
ng kape.
Tatay: Ok lang yun anak
Anak: Hindi ok yun tay, pag ikaw
namatay di ko rin sila iimbitahin.
MALING INFO
Caller: Inday, si Sir mo ito. Nabangga ang kotse ko and I need
cash. Ibigay mo na lang ang
kwarta sa inutusan ko.
Inday: Aru, dugo-dugo gang ka
ano?
Caller: Gaga! Si sir mo ito.
Inday: Gago! Ang tawag ni sir sa
akin cupcake.
IBA NA ANG PANAHON NGAYON
Lola: Noong araw kung mayroon akong 20 pesos pag-uwi ko
may dala na akong isang kilong
bigas, 2 kilong asukal, 2 latang
gatas, 1 kilong kape na barako,
1 dosenang itlog, mga de lata,
sabon at shampoo pa.
Apo: Ngayon lola, ano na ang
pinagkaibahan?
Lola: Imposible na ngayon. May
surveillance camera na.
MGA BAGONG TERMINOLOGY
Use dedicate in a sentence.
Answer: Lagyan mo lang ng
glue. For sure DEDICATE yan.
How about CONTINUE?
Answer: Kahapon ang dami
ninyo. Bakit ngayon, CONTINUE?
Hanga ka na? Idagdag pa natin
ang VIOLET.
Sayang, nawala ang i-Phone ko
kahapon. Di bale na. I will VIOLET.
Ngiti ka na? Ito pa. OPINION.
Makakapasok ka lang kung OPINION.
Ito pa ang isang hirit. CONCLUSION.
Siyempre, hindi ka makakapasok
CONCLUSION.
HINDI NAGMAMADALI
Nakasulat sa isang malaking signboard. ALCOHOL KILLS SLOWLY.
Nakita ng isang lasing.
Lasing: Ano ngayon? Hindi naman ako nagmamadali.
MAG-TEXT KA LANG
Kung may problema ka huwag
kang magpakamatay. Isipin mo
muna ito.
Ataol - Php 25,000
Burol - Php 3,500
Libing- Php 5,000
Kape - Php 1,300
Biscuit- Php
2,000
Tinapay- Php 1,000
Total Php 37,000.
Mantakin mo ang malaking gastos
na yan?
Solusyon- Mag-text ka lang dito
sa amin sa Tinig Ng Marino. Mas
mura.
Pulutan Php 55.00
Junk foods- Php 35.00
Pepsi Php 70.00
Beer Php 60.00
Total Php 220.00
Mura na, enjoy ka pa, di ba? Kitam dyay.
MADAMOT AT ANG KILLER
Juan: Oy, anu yan? Kamote?
pahingi naman
Pedro: Pahingi? Nasaan ka nung
nagbubungkal ako ng lupa sa
ilalim ng init ng araw? Nasan ka
nung nagtatanim ako habang kumukulog, kumikidlat at bumubuhos
ang ulan? Nasan ka nung oras
na nag-aani ako na nagkalat ang
maraming ahas sa daan ko, nung
naghihirap ako sa pagpasan ng
kamote? Nasan ka?
Juan: Nakakulong kasi ako noon!
Nakapatay ako ng MADAMOT!
Pedro: Ahh! Ganun ba!
Kuha ka na, kahit ilan!
May pinya pa dun!
TINIG NG MARINO 61
MAY - JUNE 2012
to you to choose. Seafaring is a unique job, a difficult work and yet fulfilling career. I owed my success to Sir Nelson who inspired me and helped
me. He is the man behind our success. We are always thankful to you Sir
Nelson for your unending help to us. As of this writing we are currently traversing the high-risk area so called Gulf of Aden. I am now on board with
the vessel MT Torm Ingeborg as second engineer. My best regards to my
family, to all UFS boys and Tinig ng Marino staff, 309 boys and to my fellow
crewmember of MT Torm Ingeborg. And also please extend my regards to
Capt. Daniel Fajelagutan, CE Leandro J. Dapal, and CE Manny N. Relato.
May God Bless us more.
To All readers of Tinig Ng Marino
Very truly yours
Felipe P. Delgado
Torm Ingeborg
KOBENHAVN
Dear sir Nelson
G
reetings from a wavy sea! A pleasant day to all. Here we go again
flashing old memories as a seafarer. When I first joined a bulk cargo
ship as a cadet, life at sea was different and difficult. As a young
man, I was always to calling new ports, see new places and meet different
people. I told myself “that this is so much fun!” as I approached the end of
my first trip at sea. I looked back and laughed at the things I found noteworthy during those first weeks on board. I told my self that I will always
go back to work and never get tired of doing my job as a seafarer. But at
the end of the day, I realized that my hard work would come to nothing if I
were just a happy-go-lucky fellow. Then one day I met my wife. We dream
of so many things. Little by little our dreams came true by God’s grace.
We are blessed with a beautiful girl and live a simple yet convenient life.
Although we face so many trials as a couple yet we stand strong. Even we
are far from each other physically, but we always believe in the old saying
that absence makes the heart grow fonder. With God as the center of our
relationship we stay strong eventhough the big waves may come across our
lives. I just hope that this simple message of mine will give a big message
to those who take seafaring for granted. When you are still young, work and
invest and when you grow old just hang up your uniform and enjoy or retire
and regret. To all aspiring cadets and neophytes in this career, it is all up
Net Ship Holds Officers and
Crew Conference 2012
FROM PAGE 51
The NSM cadets during the
entrance of colors
Capt. D. F. Tunacao, director, AMOSUP Seamen’s Training Center, reviewed the various
amendments introduced to the
1978 International Convention on
Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (SCTW
Convention) - in 1995, 2006 and
2010 - explained the procedures
to be followed to comply with the
new standards, and discussed the
definition of terms to avoid causing confusion among seafarers.
He also emphasized the critical role of training and education
under SCTW 2010. “There’s a lot of
training needed by our seafarers to
become competitive internationally. We, Filipinos are valuable in this
industry and need to deal with the
challenge properly,” he stressed.
Mr. Naham Pelisigas, Head
of the Culinary Department of
the Norwegian Training Center,
called for a more balanced diet
for seafarers. He said, “No matter how we exercise, it will not
give the desired outcome to our
body as long as we are not taking care of our diet. Having the
right diet is the name of the game.”
This prompted Capt. Engstrom to challenge those present
to adopt a health program to promote physical fitness. He said,
“Everyone must take this challenge. I am encouraging all to
be physically fit…Next year, we
will give out awards on this…”
“Safety Culture” was the third
topic tackled by Mr. Santiago M.
(front row, first from right) 2ndEngineer Felipe Delgado with the rest of the
filipino crew of TORM Ingeborg
Melegrito, quality management
director of Consolidated Training
Systems, Inc. (CTSI) leading the
discussion. Melegrito showed the
importance and benefits of a culture of safety in the workplace; how
on-board safety can be promoted,
causes of accidents identified and
human errors reduced. He warned
about taking safety lightly, saying
“though there are many books out
there that offer ideas, advice, techniques, precautions in safety, it is
our duty to instill in our minds how
to be safety conscious all the time.”
The conference then moved
on to the segment on Net Ship’s
services. The Net Ship family is
now talking with each other. Competent and professional seafarers,
on the one hand; caring employers
(principals and management), on
the other. Perhaps, the words of C/
Cook (STIURA) Dionisio E. Tumulak capture the sentiments of the
seafarers present: “I am very much
satisfied, and I have been with
the company for so long. We were
given full respect and importance.
Our retirement benefits in this company are going to be a big help for
us to retire peacefully. We must,
therefore, also be good servants.”
In response, Capt. Thoren
said: “It is not necessary to grow
very big, but rather just enough to
take care of our people. We have
selected principals who can work
with us and who look out for our
people, in the same manner that
we do with our Net Ship family..”
Continuing, he said, “We
have the Net Club, which is an organization of all principals of Net
Ship to maintain a harmonious relationship between management and
crew. We meet twice a year to keep
abreast with all the important issues in the maritime industry and to
set common decisions afterwards.”
“The health insurance, which
is in accordance with the Swedish CBA, is just one of the benefits we are giving to our seafarers as our way of looking out
for our people,” he concluded.
From this very affirming moment for everyone present, awards were given to loyal seafarers, after which the
closing ceremony took place.
The number of loyalty
awardees this year seemed to
validate the strong bonds forged
over the years among the Net
Ship family--31 seafarers for marking 20 years of service, another
31 for 15 years of service, and
30 for 10 years of service. Gold
rings were given to the 20-year
service holders while plaques
were given to the rest of them.
Ms. Nannette “June” Medel, Training Director and Quality
Assurance
Representative, was conference facilitator.
62 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
Channel
Channel
Channel
Channel
9
33
9
37
-
Destiny
Sky
Dream
UHF
Every Wednesday at 5:00 P.M.
Engr. Ramirez asks
Cong. Emmeline Aglipay
on the developments
of the Magna Carta for
Seafarers which she has
filed in congress
Capt. Benjamin Mata compares the life of a
seafarer of yore with the new generation
Capt. Casareo and Capt. Jess Morales
discusses the strength of the Philippine maritime manpower
C/E Mike Marasigan sheds light on mandatory and optional trainings under the Manila
Amendments of the STCW Convention.
Engr Ramirez discusses with host Annie Rentoy
the heroism of the Filipino seafarrers on board
M/V Costa Concordia
C/E Procis Aquino gives
his views on how to
improve the quality of
Maritime Education and
Training by using state-of
-the-art simulator
Capt. Aurelio Autonomo
narrates how he was
choosen as the Bagong
Bayani Awardee of 2011
Capt. Burt Sabay tackles the shortcomings of the maritime education in the
country
TINIG NG MARINO 63
MAY - JUNE 2012
Cong. Emmeline
Aglipay articulates
the importance of
maximizing the
potentials of the
maritime industry.
Admiral Wilfredo
Tamayo presents
the roadmap on
how to become
a successful
merchant marine
officer
Capt. Adonis Donato
stresses the Relevance of Accredited Professional
Accreditation
(APO)
Capt. Reynold
“Burt” Sabay
clarifies the
difference
between the
copyright and
right copy
Capt Alex Aquino
talks about safety
on board cruise
ships while at
helm of a cruise
vessel that caught
fire while at sea
but not a single
life was lost in the
said disaster
Capt. Reynaldo D. Casareo voices out the problems of manning agencies on maritime legal cases in connection with the “ ambulant chasers
Chief Engineer Alfredo Haboc ably discusses the state of maritime
education and training in the country
Captain Reynold “Burt” Sabay delves on “The EMSA Threat” that
could jeopardize 80,000 jobs of Filipino seafarers sailing on European-controlled ships
64 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012
National Anti-Poverty Commission Council members during their first quarter meeting Feb. 4-6, 2012 at Ciudad Christia San Mateo Rizal. From left: Rey Sto. Domingo of UFS, Ma. Fe Nicodemus of KAKAMPI, Geraldine Espinosa of KAIBIGAN,
Luther Calderon of KAMPI, Ma. Linda Manabat SR Council FLMW and Sister M.
Bernadette Guzman of COW.
UFS volunteer and staff with other leaders of PAMWA (Philippine Association
of Migrant Workers and Advocates) attending leadership seminar in Tagaytay
International Convention Center.
UFS volunteers and
staff participate at the
Philippine
Coastguard’s
blood letting
drive.
Picture taken on a
Saturday afternoon
of March 24 during
our biking trip at the
Maasvlakte, Rotterdam with crew
member of an inland
barge M/S Azolla.
Reymond Hisu-an
and Raul Gecangao
UFS staff
with ABSCBN reporter
Gretchen
Malalad.
UFS cadet volunteers pose for posterity
before starting a friendly basketball game.
Engr. N. P. Ramirez shares his ideas during the
meeting at the Maritime Training Council regarding the guidelines in the issuance of Certificates
of Proficiency and Documentary Evidence under
Chapter V and VI of the STCW Convention.
Meeting with Sec. Mar Roxas, former Gov. Ben Chiongbian
who is currently the president of the Philippine Association of
Maritime Institution and Dir. Buth Arceo of MARINA Batangas
on the issue of single Maritime Administration (MARAD).
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 65
Keep your self updated
With the latest developments in the InduStry
visit the most popular Maritime
website
www.ufs.com.ph
66 TINIG NG MARINO
Greetings from Brit Kosan
G
MAY - JUNE 2012
April 24,2012
ood day sir! We are very proud to hear that UFS is on television despite
the many trials and trouble that you have encountered, looking back
at the previous year you just startied on regular radio program with
DWIZ and now UFS is on TV with your good leadership. Needless to say
United Filipino Seafarers has gone a long way in the maritime industry. We
are enlightened to hear that until now, you are still pushing the creation of a
single agency for maritme
affairs
that would
handle solely the affairs
of the seafarers.The
maritime profession is
the only profession in
the Philippines which
is controlled by many
goverment
agencies.
This system lead to
confussion when one
agency
missed
to
certify your documents.
However,
other
professions can just
go direct to PRC. Their
Chief Engineer Allan B. Danghil
documents and license
are processed with not
so much pressure unlike us in maritime profession. Creating a single agency
for maritime affairs is the only option to have a smooth sailing system.
On the scene of “Fire Drill”. from left: 3/m Capul, C/E Danghil, C/M Operiano, 2/E Nebria, D/Cadet,A/B and E/Cadet.
With the single agency, the person who is in control should be competent
enough and must have a good track record or have good experience in
maritime industry. Basically, creating that agency will be useless if the leader
lacks the needed knowledge and understanding about the problems of the
seafarers.
We also support your move to abolish the NAC and TESDA because
these agencies are additional burden on the part of seafarers. Why do we
need to have our certificates certified by this when our training has been duly
registered by MTC whose serial numbers are indicated in our certificates?
My question is: “Why do they need to certify our certificates? Meaning, they
don’t believe in the training centers if that is their concept. If that is the case,
why do they give accreditation to these training centers to offer such courses?
As far as I know prior to the approval of their license to operate, MTC
will conduct inspection to ensure that training center is fully compliant to all
the requirements. I’m hoping that your good efforts will be fruitful for the sake
of our fellow seafarers. Indeed seafarers are one of the backbones of our
economy.
We need to defrag the system by putting the right person who can
cope up and answer the problems of the maritime industry. I do believe with
your leadership and crusade it will gradually align with President Aquino’s
agenda. Dito tayo sa matuwid na daan and you are on the right tract Sir.
Presently, I’m on board a LPG carrier. I’m up to date with Tinig ng
Marino and UFS website.
Before I park my pen again thank you very much sir for helping my
family because without you I cannot be a better person and I can proudly
say that with your help I wouldn’t have been a better person. I am proud to
say that with your help, we can almost maneuver a vessel with the Danghil
family. We are five brothers in the family A chief engineer myself, next to me
is a chief mate, an able bodied seaman, and an oiler and our youngest is
soon to be on board as an engine cadet of Foscon Ship Management. Also
I would like to thank our Director Chong Pal Kim for his trust and accepting
me as his regular office manager in the Crewing Department. Lastly, thanks
also to my co-manager Mr.cruz, Mr. Rondina, Mr.Ordillano and to all Foscon
employees.
UFS 97 VOLUNTER STAFF
C/E Allan B. Danghil
Crewing and Training Manager
Foscon Ship Management Inc.
3rd Engr. Mark Nestle Sorronda (Second from rigth) on board MV
Green Arrow
MAY - JUNE 2012
TINIG NG MARINO 67
68 TINIG NG MARINO
MAY - JUNE 2012