A stakeholder in the seafaring industry has extolled President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his reported last-minute decision not to sign the proposed Magna Carta for Seafarers.

Capt. Edgardo Flores, a consultant of Eastern Mediterranean Manning Agency and president and CEO of the Navigator Training Center, maintained that the measure, had it been signed, would do more harm than good to the thriving maritime industry.

According to Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil, the Magna Carta bill was put “under further review.”

The Magna Carta was supposed to be signed yesterday together with Republic Act 11981, or the Tatak Pinoy Act, and RA 11982, an amendment to the Centenarian Act. (See related story)

Flores pointed to Chapter XVII of the Magna Carta which requires maritime schools to have a training ship of their own, describing the idea as “crazy.”

“Whose idea was that? The STCW (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping) Code considers a training ship only as one of the few options to be used in the method of demonstrating competence, not a top priority,” Flores said.

“Furthermore, it is required only for seafarers that are candidates for certification to have a certificate of competencies, but not for students,” he told DAILY TRIBUNE.

Under Section 84 of the Requirements for Maritime Higher Education Institutions offering Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation, BS Marine Engineering and other maritime degree programs “MHEIs shall be required to have their training ships, simulators or other similar technologies, or shall directly enter into agreements with local or international shipping companies, shipowners, or manning agencies with respect to the shipboard training program of their students or cadets.”

“In this regard, they shall enroll or admit only the number of students equivalent to not more than 150 percent of the training slots on their training ships, simulators or other similar technologies, or the number of training slots that can be accommodated by the shipping companies, shipowners, or manning agencies based on the agreements the MHEI concerned with said shipping companies, shipowners, or manning agencies,” the proposed bill read.

Flores said the proposed bill defies the STCW Code.

“There is no provision in the STCW Code that students are included in the onboard training. There is no provision in the STCW that requires onboard training for graduation. There are OBT but those are for seafarers who want to become OIC (officers in charge),” he explained.

The Philippine Association of Maritime Institutions, or PAMI, on Sunday declared a Black Monday campaign to press for the revision of Chapter XVIII of the Magna Carta, particularly the requirement of having training vessels for maritime students.

Sought for comment, the Association of Licensed Manning Agencies said they will convene on Monday night to assess the decision of the President to delay the signing of the measure.

With Tiziana Celine Piatos @tribunephl_ tiz