Seafarers are the country’s pride: DOLE

Seafarers are the country’s pride: DOLE

he Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has cited the central role of seafarers in running a full quarter of the global merchant fleet in the high seas.

DOLE also said these seafarers, totaling about 380,000, should be bestowed honors as they continue to help the country in very difficult economic conditions.

On the occasion of the 9th Commencement Exercises of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP), in Mariveles, Bataan, DOLE secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said before 170 men and women of the MAAP’s class of 2011 that Filipino seafarers are the country’s pride.

The MAAP Class of 2011 is the largest batch of MAAP graduates thus far and included students from as far as the Visayas and Mindanao.

“I applaud you for your determination to push through with a magnificent graduation ceremony,” Baldoz said in her commencement address.

The event also coincided with the nationwide observance of the Seafarer’s Day.

Describing them as highly competent and productive, the labor and employment chief said that Filipino seafarers plays a constructive and significant role in global trade and contributes immensely to the country’s economic growth.

Baldoz said that President Benigno S. Aquino III, in his 22-point labor and employment agenda, had made as the Philippines’s overarching goal the need to “invest in our country’s top resource, our human resource, to make us more competitive and employable while promoting industrial peace based on social justice,” and in this process, ensure training and employment and reduce job-skills mismatch.

She also cited MAAP officials for locating in the once war-torn battlefields of Bataan, transforming it into a premiere human development and training center for global trade and shipping. She also honored the vision and ideals sprung by the founder of the MAAP, the late Captain Gregorio S. Oca, who also founded the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP).

Baldoz was joined in the ceremony by visiting maritime dignitaries Tsutomu Iizuka, chairman of the International Mariners Management Association of Japan (IMMAJ) and Captain Masaaki Nemoto, executive officer of Mitsui OSK-Lines; Eduardo U. Manese, chairman, Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council (PJMCC); Dr. Conrado F. Oca, AMOSUP president; and Vice-Admiral Eduardo Ma. R. Santos, MAAP president.

“When you board your ships in a multi-cultural setting, you represent not only yourselves as seafarers—you are our ambassadors of goodwill,” she told the graduates, adding that

“As you join the 1,074 MAAP alumni already making waves in the world fleet, I encourage you to bring with you not just your credentials and skills, but the values of this academy as well—Virtus, Fides et Disiplina—and to do a job well, striving hard to establish a service reputation as your academy’s best. In doing so you have already done a noble service to your country.”

The labor and employment chief said that in this sense, the MAAP, as an academy of world-class excellence, also serves as a model in the provision of employment, eliminating in the process the job-skills mismatch “by ensuring gainful employment for every graduate.”

Baldoz said that learning institutions like the MAAP are making an indispensable contribution to the country’s development goals that are “relevant and responsive to the requirements of the global labor market.”

Statistics show that about a quarter or 25 percent of the personnel onboard vessels of every flag in the world are Filipinos, with some of them being graduates of the MAAP. This indicates that MAAP is sending a positive and welcome response to address the still growing demands for highly qualified seafarers.

She said that as the Philippines continues to supply the manning requirements for the maritime industry worldwide, the MAAP, since its founding 13 years ago, remains to be the pre-eminent institution in maritime education. “MAAP began with a vision and this vision is shared by various international shipping companies by way of world-class education and training.

“Indeed, this academy is a testament of excellence in maritime education and training and a symbol of sustained commitment to the continuing employment of highly competent overseas Filipino deck officers and marine engineers who represent the best in seafaring,” said Baldoz. ?

One Response to “Seafarers are the country’s pride: DOLE”

1. myp2peusopcast says:

   November 4, 2011 at 5:11 pm

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