A SOLON believes the quality of local maritime education must be improved, amid the European Union’s continued recognition of Filipino seafarers’ certificates.
As such, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the EU’s move also acknowledged the Philippines’s efforts to boost the state of education for the maritime sector.
The European Commission recognized the country’s serious efforts particularly in complying with requirements in key areas such as monitoring, supervision, evaluation of training and assessment.
As chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture,Gatchalian urged concerned agencies to ensure that the training must be provided to seafarers to improve their overall competitiveness.
“The challenge remains for the Philippines to ensure that our seafarers are globally competitive, given their critical role and contribution to the economic growth of the country,” Gatchalian stated, as he cited that his Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers will be a “significant step forward.”
In 2022 he filed Senate Bill 822, or an act seeking to protect Filipino seafarers beyond “our borders and build their competency [via] education and skills training to sustain and improve…overall competitiveness and professional advantage.”
Sea-based remittances in 2021 reached $6.54 billion, which comprised at least 21 percent of the total dollar remittances of all overseas Filipino workers, and was slightly higher than that of 2020 at $6.35 billion.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes