Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is seeking “vigorous and sustainable reforms”
in the maritime industry for the Philippines to pass the European Union
safety audit in October and be able to save the jobs of Filipino seafarers
boarding European Union-flagged commercial vessels.
At least 360,000 Filipino seafarers are aboard EU vessels but their number
will be pared down by 80,000 initially if the Philippines flunks the safety
audit to be conducted by the EU Maritime Safety Agency.
Belmonte stressed the need to upgrade standards of training for the sailors
to ensure that all schools comply with international norms and principles.
Earlier, the German Shipowners’ Association (Verband Deutscher Reeder) has
warned that tens of thousands Filipino seafarers risk losing their jobs in
EU-registered ships if the Philippine government fails to pass the EU maritime
audit in October.
The International Chamber of Shipping, the world’s principal shipping
organization representing 80 percent of the world’s merchant tonnage, also
called the attention of President Benigno Aquino III in a letter to address the
EU’s concern over the country’s maritime industry’s failure to pass the audit
last April.
During his visit to Germany, Vice President Jejomar Binay disclosed after
meeting with some 50 German shipping titans in the seaport capital city of
Hamburg that they would keep their Filipino seamen and supported the country’s
efforts to pass the next EU maritime safety audit. Read the full Manila Standard article here http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/06/12/80000-seafarers-face-job-loss/
For example, those doctors, nurses, seamen, teachers, domestic
helpers (and really just college graduates in general) who speak
English well have an edge on the rest and are able to work abroad,
thanks largely to their competency in English. They help make
Philippine migrant workers one of the largest migrant worker
groups in the world. Indeed, the more than 10 million Filipino
workers abroad have managed to prop up the Philippine economy by
sending some $16 billion back home to their families last year,
amounting to the fourth largest level of total remittances in the
world, and accounting for almost 12 percent of the country’s
entire GDP. Indeed, remittances from overseas workers have time
and again made it possible for the country to survive many crises,
and they will perhaps help it weather the current financial
crisis.
Call-center agents, Filipinos chatting on their headsets to inquiring English-speaking customers half a world away, were supposed to provide the answer to the Philippines’ economy. They could be drawn from the country’s famously large pool of English speakers to tap into the lucrative offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) market.
But employers in the industry say they now have to reject 95 of 100 job applicants because their English proficiency is inadequate. Since the economy depends on the ofw and the call centers for a major part of its spending power,,,,,its like the ostrich has stuck his head in the sand ignoring English is the economic driver of the the country!
A country where spoken English once ranked as an official language has seen its collective proficiency slide over the years, even as the economic importance of the english has grown. The decline stems in part from nationalist campaigns to promote Filipino and from inattention in schools, which the government is taking steps to undo.
Employers say it is increasingly difficult to find people with adequate English, and some O&O employers think the labor supply has dried up.
If students’ math and science scores are poor, their performance in English is even worse.
“If we do not supply the demand, then we will lose our business,” Garcia says. “We will always need the English language.”
Read the complete articles here at this link
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0510/For-Filipinos-English-proficiency-is-fading
http://english.safe-democracy.org/2009/01/21/the-philippines-still-grappling-with-english/
Call-center agents, Filipinos chatting on their headsets to inquiring English-speaking customers half a world away, were supposed to provide the answer to the Philippines’ economy. They could be drawn from the country’s famously large pool of English speakers to tap into the lucrative offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) market.
But employers in the industry say they now have to reject 95 of 100 job applicants because their English proficiency is inadequate. Since the economy depends on the ofw and the call centers for a major part of its spending power,,,,,its like the ostrich has stuck his head in the sand ignoring English is the economic driver of the the country!
A country where spoken English once ranked as an official language has seen its collective proficiency slide over the years, even as the economic importance of the english has grown. The decline stems in part from nationalist campaigns to promote Filipino and from inattention in schools, which the government is taking steps to undo.
Employers say it is increasingly difficult to find people with adequate English, and some O&O employers think the labor supply has dried up.
English once dominated
The shortage is ironic given that the Philippines once boasted, with some justification, of being the world’s third largest Anglophone country.If students’ math and science scores are poor, their performance in English is even worse.
“If we do not supply the demand, then we will lose our business,” Garcia says. “We will always need the English language.”
Read the complete articles here at this link
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0510/For-Filipinos-English-proficiency-is-fading
http://english.safe-democracy.org/2009/01/21/the-philippines-still-grappling-with-english/
How the pressures of the shipping industry have shaped everything about this maritime culture. Right down to their penile implants.
The Philippines provides more seafarers to the global labor market than any other country in the world, accounting for approximately a fifth of 1.2 million maritime workers. The number of Filipinos currently living on vessels is roughly 240,000.
Other low-wage countries, including India, South Korea, and Indonesia, apply for the same jobs. For that reason, McKay argues, the Filipinos have set out to differentiate themselves from crew members of other nationalities.
perhaps the most fascinating part of the Filipino seafaring identity, the little-known and barely studied sexual practice of "bolitas," or little balls.
Many Filipino sailors make small incisions in their penises and slide tiny plastic or stone balls -- the size of M&M's -- underneath the skin in order to enhance sexual pleasure for prostitutes and other women they encounter in port cities, especially in Rio de Janeiro. "This 'secret weapon of the Filipinos,
This is a man's job ['barako talaga'].... You are away from your family, you are in the middle of the sea and you see nothing but the sea and the sky for one month. ... If you want adventure, seafaring is your type of job. But given the heavy work, loneliness and the waves, seafaring is really a difficult job....Most land-based jobs are safe, [but] when a seaman boards a ship, one foot is already in the grave.
As one Filipino officer told McKay: "'The women prefer Filipinos because we treat them nice, not like other nationalities,'" Read the original complete article here
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/the-strange-sexual-quirk-of-filipino-seafarers/278285/
Read more about implants here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implant_%28body_modification%29
http://www.urologicalcare.com/advanced-ed-treatments/types-penile-implants/
http://www.yourplasticsurgeryguide.com/other-procedures/penile-implant.htm
Although University of Cebu is often a choice of
Marine Engineers Seamen, the cheapest tuition is at CTU Cebu Technological
University with tuition about 8000 pesos per semester and they have many campuses in various towns all over the island of Cebu with many cadets in Carmen, Cebu. Be aware there are over
40,000 Marine Engineers graduating every year here in the Philippines and most
graduates do not get hired on the international ships where the best pay is,
usually the ones that do get hired at the top notchers in grades or with
relatives already working on the international ships to help them apply with
references. Read more about CTU here at this link
This was the message of Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) 7 Director Nanette Villamor-Dinopol during the International Seafarers’ Day celebration at a mall in Cebu City yesterday.
Dinopol delivered her speech after a five-kilometer parade participated by seafarers and representatives of shipping lines, maritime schools, labor groups and government agencies.
Dinopol said yesterday's celebration marked a milestone toward two important challenges.
Read the complete article in the Sunstar
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2013/06/26/more-heroes-seafarers-are-ph-s-sailing-ambassadors-289308
PHILIPPINE GLOBAL SEAFARERS: A PROFILE
pdf format history to download http://www.psap-parola.org/home/wp-content/files/pdf/2004-02-12-philippine-global-seafarers.pdf
The free rides, which the Light Rail Transit also offers, will be from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. “in celebration of the day of the Filipino Seafarer” on June 25, MRT officer Toby Andulan and LRT spokesman Hernando Cabrera announced on Friday.
Seafarers who will avail of the free train rides only need to present their valid Marina-issued seaman’s book, or PRC ID, they said.
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines still fails to meet European Union (EU)
standards on maritime education, training and competency certificates, according
to the results of a recent performance audit, prompting Foreign Affairs
Secretary Albert del Rosario to raise the matter to President Aquino.
With the jobs of an estimated 80,000 Filipino seamen on EU-flagged vessels at stake, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has ordered the phaseout and closure of 123 out of 157 maritime training programs nationwide.
The move aims to avert an EU ban on the hiring of Filipino seamen. Read the full article here at Philippine Star newspaper
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/05/29/947538/phl-still-fails-meet-eu-maritime-education-standards
With the jobs of an estimated 80,000 Filipino seamen on EU-flagged vessels at stake, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has ordered the phaseout and closure of 123 out of 157 maritime training programs nationwide.
The move aims to avert an EU ban on the hiring of Filipino seamen. Read the full article here at Philippine Star newspaper
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/05/29/947538/phl-still-fails-meet-eu-maritime-education-standards
MANILA, Philippines—Maritime schools that continue to defy government orders to close down substandard training programs are putting all Filipino seafarers in danger of being banned from European Union (EU) member flagged vessels.
“We expect we will be prepared for the visits in October. We expect possibly less institutions to be visited because those we ordered for closure will not be there,” Licuanan said.
She said CHEd has taken steps to add more assessors after the EMSA team observed that 91 maritime schools can not properly be monitored if CHEd had only two to five full-time staff members.
“That’s a legitimate point so we’re doing catch up, we’re getting other personnel from other CHEd offices,” Licuanan said.
She said the EMSA team also observed that having assessors come from the industry or the academe might lead to a conflict of interest.
Licuanan said she explained that experts have been coming from the industry or the academe, since there is no separate profession for assessors.
“We’re in a better position because we know exactly which are the observed weaknesses,” Licuanan said.
“We will cooperate with whatever it takes. There’s no more turfing,” she added. Read the full article at this Link Philippine Inquirer http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/414199/ched-asks-maritime-schools-to-phase-out-substandard-courses
Substandard maritime schools warned anew
Maritime schools that continue to defy government orders to shut down their substandard training programs are putting all Filipino seafarers at risk of being banned from European Union (EU) flagged vessels.Ahead of an EU audit in October, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has ordered the phaseout of half of the maritime training programs offered by 91 schools since these did not meet quality standards.
Some of the affected schools, however, defied the CHEd and obtained temporary restraining orders (TRO) from the courts in order to keep operating.
CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan appealed to the defiant schools to stop contesting the phaseout order for the sake of the “national interest.”
“This is really in the national interest. It’s the Philippines that will be seen as being noncompliant (with global training standards). We’re no longer talking about (individual) schools and programs. They certify by country. Even the best schools will be affected,” Licuanan said.
“So don’t get any more TROs. This is really in the national interest,” she added.
The Philippines is currently the leading supplier of seamen to the world, with Filipinos comprising about 30 percent of all seafarers globally, according to government data.
In 2011, the money Filipino seamen sent home amounted to around $4 billion.
Last month, representatives from the European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) reviewed Philippine oversight practices on maritime training and deployment to check if the government had addressed deficiencies reported in 2010.
In reaction to criticism of having multiple oversight agencies, Malacañang designated the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) as the central implementing body of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for seafarers.
Other agencies involved in maritime training and deployment, including the CHEd, were placed under Marina supervision and ordered to align their evaluation standards to it.
The next EMSA inspection will be conducted in October where maritime schools will be inspected.
“We have too many (programs) of low quality, that’s the underlying problem,” Licuanan said.
“We expect we will be prepared for the visits in October. We expect possibly fewer institutions to be visited because those we ordered for closure will not be there,” Licuanan said. Read the full article at the Philippine Inquirer here http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/415335/substandard-maritime-schools-warned-anew
