Editorial: The Pinoy seafarers and the STCW Convention…

The year 2011 will again be a challenge to the Philippines seafaring, manning and crewing industries as a number of mandatory policies sanctioned by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is set to take effect. In less than a year, the amendments to the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) will be imposed which is definitely a boon for Filipino seafarers. The benefits, of course, will...

Round Table Discussion: Pedagogy Over Technology in MET? :

As I promised in our last issue, here’s a complete dissection of the discussion of the topic, Pedadogy over technology in MET. The one hour cerebral discussion is not enough for the participants to further elucidate in detail the various concerns, beliefs and issues on pedagogy and technology in MET. It is interesting to note that from the various philosophical views both from the reactors and participating...

It is really now, the season for giving… And giving is what I will do…

First, I will give my sincerest thanks to our wonderful Savior who continue to give us strength and still allowed us to gain this opportunity to celebrate another Christmas and add another year into our lives. To God Be the Glor Second, let me thank my family—my loving husband, my kids, my loving apos—for always being at my side through thick and thin. Third, my friends, relatives, and the everyday people I meet...

How time really flies…

It seems that it was just only the other day when we celebrated Christmas and greeted the year 2010. But here we are right now, a couple of days away from December 25 and the Year 2011. We can now really feel the holiday spirit.. the cold breeze in the late afternoon until the wee hours of the next day, the long lines of people in malls, tiangges, bazaars shopping for gifts to their love ones. And most especially,...

Harborscope is now three years old

Harborscope is now three years old. At the start we could not imagine that our paper will last this long in a highly-competitive shipping and manning industries with so many established newspapers already. But our sacrifices paid off. With many sleepless nights when we are beginning, with undoubting investors we have in our fold and a hard working editorial and marketing people, this paper now believes that we are...

An Open Letter to the Maritime Training Council

(Signed on September 22, 2010 during the PAMTCI Symposium on STCW 2010 ?Manila Amendments) We, the participants to this Symposium on the 2010 STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) Manila Amendments sponsored by the Philippine Association of Maritime Training Centers, Inc. (PAMTCI), express our concern on the preparations of the Philippines for the formulation of policies, rules and...

Who is better – Indian or Filipino officer?

HARBORSCOPE volume 2 no. 5 In the previous edition of Harborscope, Chief Engineer Chito F. Majabague, a director of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association Inc. and senior manager at the Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), was quoted as saying that most principals he met could not help but compare Filipino officers from Indian officers. According to Majabague, the “shipowners would choose Filipino...

Summer is back

HARBORSCOPE volume 2 issue no. 4 The heat is on once more! Businesses are getting burned with different fires of the trade. The most recent of which is the present economic uncertainty that is being felt worldwide. As an aftermath, businesses have slowed down and charter hires nose-dived tremendously resulting to vessel layups and displacement of seafarers. In the land-based sector, a lot of companies have folded up...

Accidents can be avoided… if we are compliant!

HARBORSCOPE volume 1 issue no. 7 On behalf of the Harborscope team, we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the relatives of the victims of the m/v Princess of the Stars tragedy last June 21. The lives lost in the tragic incident, nearly a thousand, could put the country in great humiliation. While we are sending best and competent ship officers to man ocean-going vessels, it is high time to check if our...

Are we contributing to the supply or to the shortage? How many graduates do we have?

HARBORSCOPE volume 1 issue no. 6 Six months have passed after the successful Philippine Manning Convention on November last year. Industry leaders have called for a massive campaign to introduce the seafaring career to offspring of Filipino seamen down to high school levels in order to create fresh and young bloods of competent seafarers. According to Mr. Ericson Marquez, president of Virjen Shipping Group of...