PH remiss in submission of evaluation reports

Credit to Author: RAFFY AYENG| Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:35:34 +0000

THE International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations (UN) agency, has confirmed that the Philippines failed requirements, including deadlines, for sending evaluation reports under the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for seafarers.

The confirmation came after the country’s maritime regulators said the Philippines was still on the “White List” of the IMO.

Inclusion in the White List means that the country complies with minimum qualification standards for masters, officers and watch personnel on seagoing merchant ships under the revised 1978 International Convention on STCW of the UN agency.

In an email sent to The Manila Times, IMO media relations chief Natasha Brown said “the second annex lists Parties, which have fulfilled requirements for submitting information related to independent evaluations” that are periodically undertaken by “qualified persons who are not themselves involved in the activities concerned.”

Brown added that “the second annex lists the parties that have met the requirements for the submission of subsequent reports within the time periods prescribed. This revised list excludes those Parties that either have not submitted their subsequent reports or have submitted them outside the time periods prescribed so that they are still under consideration by the competent persons”

The second annex obtained by this paper does not have the Philippines on the list.

Brenda Pimentel, a lawyer and a former IMO regional coordinator in East Asia, earlier said the IMO document “appears authentic,” but it is not the White List.

“The document acknowledges the countries [that] have submitted the necessary documents that will attest to the countries having put in place the necessary mechanisms that comply with the requirements of the STCW convention,” according to Pimentel, also a columnist of The Manila Times.

“In the revised list, Malaysia and Panama are not listed yet, and therefore, the Philippines may be putting up the necessary communications to the IMO. The list will be updated I am sure to include those [that] have transmitted the communications. After submitting the documents, that is when the IMO will make a determination if a country is to be retained on the White List,” she said.

Pimentel urged stakeholders to check whether the Maritme Industry Authority (Marina) had complied with the “reportorial requirements under the STCW convention.”

“I know that the IMO is now doing a reassessment of the White List by doing its own state audit. I do not know if the Philippines had been audited by the IMO,” she said.

The Department of Transportation and Marina for the third time reiterated their commitment to comply with the STCW convention for seafarers to maintain its place in the White List.

The United Filipino Seafarers, through its President Nelson Ramirez, had said it was about to send a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte and other government officials to look into the matter.

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