The rigorous efforts of the Maritime Industry Authority to address the latest findings of the European Maritime Safety Agency deserve to be recognized as well as its firm assurance that there is no immediate threat to seafarers' jobs on ships flagged in European Union member countries.

In the past several weeks, there was a marked upsurge of news reports regarding a possible ban of some 50,000 Filipino officers on EU ships should the European Commission decide to withdraw recognition of Philippine-issued Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping certificates due to perceived non-compliance of the country with the STCW Convention based on a series of EMSA audits on its implementation.

The growing concerns over the possible loss of seafarers' jobs stemmed from earlier reports that EC would come out with the verdict this November. Marina, however, disclosed that the earliest EC could tackle the issue over the Philippine STCW certificates would be during its next meeting in Spring between April and May 2023.

This will give the country, through Marina, more time to implement needed measures to rectify the EMSA findings.

We can recall that Marina was able to submit in March 2022 the Philippine Response to EC Assessment Report which details the corrective actions it already put in place and is currently being implemented, as well as the short and long-term measures it intends to take to address findings.

Before coming out with the Philippine response, Marina conducted root cause analysis workshops to identify the fundamental underlying causes of the deficiencies found during the EMSA audit. These activities gave rise to the identification of critical issues confronting the Philippine MET and certification system.

Worth noting, these Marina initiatives of holding a series of consultations and workshops with industry stakeholders were aimed at harnessing their expertise, promoting transparency as well as facilitating cooperation and stakeholders' support in addressing EMSA concerns. Their involvement enabled Marina to produce comprehensive solutions that make up the 2022 Philippine Response.

Even as we recognize these earnest efforts to put our maritime education and training, we expect Marina to consistently observe the timetables in the implementation of these corrective actions as indicated in the Philippine Response.

Moreover, we would like to give a heads up this early on another impending and more extensive audit of the Philippine maritime industry by no less than the International Maritime Organization.

We do not want to sound pessimistic, but just to avoid a similarly precarious situation now confronting the nation's seafaring industry brought about by the EMSA audit, Marina should also amply prepare for the coming comprehensive audit under the IMO Member State Audit Scheme or IMSAS.

To give readers a background on IMSAS, it started as a voluntary audit scheme in 2006 and became a treaty obligation only in January 2016. It aims to promote the consistent and effective implementation of applicable IMO instruments or Conventions and to assist member states to improve their capabilities and overall performance in complying with the requirements of these instruments.

While EMSA focuses only on the Philippine compliance with the regulations of the STCW Convention that affects only seafarers deployed to EU-flagged ships, IMSAS covers the five major maritime safety and environmental protection mandatory IMO instruments:
* International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended or Solas 1974;
* International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended or STCW 1978;
* Protocol of 1988 relating to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966 or 1988 Load Lines Protocol, as amended;
* International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969 or Tonnage 1969; and
*Annex of the Protocol of 1997 to Amend the Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, as Modified by the Protocol of 1978

As an IMO-member State, the Philippines is scheduled to undergo a thorough IMSAS audit in October 2023.

We will share more about the IMO mandatory audit scheme and its implications on the Philippines as a Flag State in our next issue.