Added course for seamen is unjustified - Pimentel
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Thursday called for a Senate probe on the move of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to require seafarers to take additional management-level course (MLC).
Pimentel said he found no justifiable reason for the additional subject requirement, which will cost each seaman P42,000 for marine deck course and P52,000 for engine course.The PRC junked the appeal of seafarers’ groups to scrap the MLC as a requirement for the issuance of certificate of competency that seafarers need for employment."The mandatory MLC, besides being an additional cost to seafarers, is allegedly a repetition since most of the topics in the course are already part of four to five-year marine deck and marine engineering courses," Pimentel said.The Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW) does not require the MLC. Moreover, foreign employers do not also require the course as a condition for employment, the senator said.He said a source told him that the shortage of maritime officers ready for deployment abroad as an offshoot of the imposition of the course by the PRC through its board for marine officers.The groups that have called for the scrapping of the additional training course include the Crewing Managers Association of the Philippines, United Filipino Seafarers, Philippine Maritime Institute Alumni Association, Inc. and the Integrated Marine Deck and Engine Officers Association.Pimentel said there is a point in the suggestion that MLC be optional if some of its subjects duplicate basic maritime courses.The Senate probe will look into the claim of the seafarers and other stakeholders that there was a strong lobby exerted by training centers with the PRC board of marine officers for the adoption of the MLC, Pimentel said.The complainants alleged that training centers "obviously stand to gain at the expense of our seafarers in making the management level course mandatory with the PRC becoming a willing tool." - Luis Gorgonio, GMANews.
Pimentel said he found no justifiable reason for the additional subject requirement, which will cost each seaman P42,000 for marine deck course and P52,000 for engine course.The PRC junked the appeal of seafarers’ groups to scrap the MLC as a requirement for the issuance of certificate of competency that seafarers need for employment."The mandatory MLC, besides being an additional cost to seafarers, is allegedly a repetition since most of the topics in the course are already part of four to five-year marine deck and marine engineering courses," Pimentel said.The Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW) does not require the MLC. Moreover, foreign employers do not also require the course as a condition for employment, the senator said.He said a source told him that the shortage of maritime officers ready for deployment abroad as an offshoot of the imposition of the course by the PRC through its board for marine officers.The groups that have called for the scrapping of the additional training course include the Crewing Managers Association of the Philippines, United Filipino Seafarers, Philippine Maritime Institute Alumni Association, Inc. and the Integrated Marine Deck and Engine Officers Association.Pimentel said there is a point in the suggestion that MLC be optional if some of its subjects duplicate basic maritime courses.The Senate probe will look into the claim of the seafarers and other stakeholders that there was a strong lobby exerted by training centers with the PRC board of marine officers for the adoption of the MLC, Pimentel said.The complainants alleged that training centers "obviously stand to gain at the expense of our seafarers in making the management level course mandatory with the PRC becoming a willing tool." - Luis Gorgonio, GMANews.
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