PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Sunday said his administration is actively addressing concerns about the European Union’s move to flag the Philippines for deficiencies in local seafarer training and education.
“I think that we will [be] going to do everything that we can. We cannot leave it hanging like this. And this is our last chance so we have to really get it done. But again, the whole industry is working to make it happen,” Marcos said in an interview with the media onboard Flight PR 001.
The chief executive stressed that “everybody in the industry is working very hard for us to get that.”
“Hindi tayo nakakatupad doon sa iba. And the attitude in the past was just to put the documents… some documentary studies, and that was what I was telling them,” Marcos said.
“I think they’ve changed their approach now to the accreditation. And I think we’ll be all right,” he pointed out.
The President is on a three-day trip to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-European Union (ASEAN-EU) Commemorative Summit in Belgium, where he is expected to raise maritime cooperation in his meetings with EU officials.
About 50,000 Filipino seafarers working in European vessels are reportedly at risk of losing their jobs due to the Philippines’ repeated failure to hurdle the European Maritime Safety Agency’s (EMSA) evaluation in the last 16 years.
President Marcos earlier ordered a collective effort involving various government bodies to ensure that the country’s training initiatives and accreditation scheme for seafarers would pass the standards of the EU.
Government agencies tackling the Philippines’ EMSA compliance include the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA).
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