The management of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA), the country’s premier maritime school, is urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to consider the urgency of passing a bill aiming to transform the PMMA into the Philippine National Maritime Academy (PNMA).

PMMA superintendent Commodore Joel Abutal said Wednesday that House Bill 6503, authored and filed by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, seeks to upgrade and broaden PMMA’s present mandate under Republic Act 3680, its original charter enacted in 1963, to gain access to more government funding and focusing not only on producing marine officers but graduates for the broader economy as well as defense and law enforcement needs of the country.

“We need to delve into the importance of this measure relative to the bigger critical issues of the country, which are issues on the West Philippine Sea, the blue economy, defense modernization, job generation, issues in the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), and the Magna Carta for Seafarers,” Abutal said.

“The PMMA, a beacon of maritime education and training for over two centuries, stands at a critical juncture. The two hundred years of PMMA history are just the beginning. The evolving demands of the global maritime industry necessitate a transformation. This transformation, embodied in the proposed Philippine National Maritime Academy Bills, a consolidated version, has just passed the Committee Hearing on 23 July 2024. It is not merely a name change, but a new beginning for a strategic realignment to empower the government-funded maritime academy to become a true national asset and a global leader in maritime education and training,” he added.