An owner of a maritime training center has admitted that non-appearance in Management Level Course training and backdating of MLC certificates by ship officers who deem it as time-consuming are happening under the table.

In an interview with select maritime reporters, the whistleblower who requested anonymity said some seafarers are bribing instructors to get passing marks in MLC without attending it.

"One of the instructors of one of the MTIs (maritime training institutes) in Intramuros said, when enrolling for MLC, there were two queues, one for 'regular' and another for
'non-appearance,'" the Manila-based MTC owner said, without mentioning the name of the MTC.

He added that those seafarers were even told to return a week or so for their certificates.

An executive of another MTC supported the allegation, saying he has an officer son who inquired in one MTC about MLC over the phone. He was also given the options of non-appearance and backdating.

"I have recorded their telephone conversations," claimed the executive.

Revocation, suspension

Maritime Industry Authority chief Hernani Fabia said he is aware of seafarers who connive with MTC instructors and officials to get certificates of competency without actually attending the training sessions.

"We catch many examinees with spurious MLC certificates. When we verify, the MTI say they don't have records of the trainees, so we revoke their COC with corresponding suspension," Fabia said.

The Marina head said the agency's legal department sends out show cause orders to erring seafarers and report them to their manning agencies.

Fabia reminded erring seafarers and instructors that fake documents cannot trick Marina's stringent evaluation process.

He added that the agency will soon implement the block chain system to stop the individual uploading of documents to Marina's STCW Office and only authorize MTIs and Department of Health-accredited clinics to encode in the system.

The STCW office said a thorough investigation and operation with police against unscrupulous seafarers and instructors could have ended the
non-appearance and backdating schemes, but it was aborted when the suspects sensed the entrapment.

In backdating, the training date on the certificate is backdated to make it appear that the seafarer already completed the MLC. Officers who are in a hurry to apply for a new job contract or be spared from the month-long training resort to the scheme.

Early this year, the reimposition of MLC was hit by manning agencies deeming it an added burden to seafarer officers because the course costs P45,000 and takes 40 days to complete.

The MLC became more controversial when some seamen can take it without physically attending training.

Fabia had insisted on requiring the MLC so the country can produce competent seafarers and pass the European Maritime Safety Audit.

The MLC was also backed by Transportation Secretary Jimmy Bautista to make Filipino seafarers training compliant with European shipowners standards and regulations.