Shipping firm releases training certificates after stude complaints

After weeks of delay, Starhorse Shipping Lines Inc. finally released the shipboard training certificates of maritime students on 12 September, the company told DAILY TRIBUNE.

This came after Starhorse initially vowed to release the certificates by 5 September but failed to do so. Students of Philsin College Foundation Inc. had complained to this paper’s digital show, Usapang OFW, about the delay.

Philsin, in a statement, said it was the cadets’ responsibility to process their certificates even if a joint circular of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) issued last year called on maritime schools to facilitate the shipboard training of their cadets directly.

The mother of one of the complaining cadets said her son received his certificate on Monday, 16 September, and only needed to finalize his clearance.

She credited DAILY TRIBUNE for helping move the process forward. “If the attention of Starhorse was not called, I don’t think they would have fixed it,” she said.

Starhorse’s delayed release of certificates was part of a larger controversy involving Marine World Maritime Services, which reportedly collected P35,000 from each Philsin student for their training with Starhorse.

Upon investigation, Marine World was found to be unregistered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or Marina.

Despite this, Starhorse maintained it was unaware of Marine World’s unregistered status when it dealt with the agency.

The CHEd-Marina circular expressly prohibited third parties like Marine World from serving as a go-between between maritime schools and training ships in facilitating the cadets’ training.

A Marina official earlier told Usapang OFW that middlemen jack up the cost of training of the cadets, but CHEd chairman Prospero De Vera had shown disinterest in penalizing maritime schools that violated the circular.

When pressed by this paper for his reaction to what Marina admitted to be a violation of its circular with CHEd, De Vera said they would need a formal complaint before they could act.