International Maritime Leaders laud Seafaring Academy in the Philippines
Mariveles, Bataan, Philippines - One of the biggest Maritime schools in the Philippines recently received praises and applause in producing and molding young Filipinos into being a “globally competent professionals”.
Together with international maritime leaders from Asia and Europe, the Department of Labour and Education Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis – Baldoz recently praised Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) for their great contribution on the number of quality Filipino seafarers deployed worldwide.
Baldoz also expressed the national government’s cognizance of MAAP’s contribution to the country’s seafaring industry as she described the Academy as “one of government’s strong partners in the growth and development of the country’s maritime sector.”
“I have personally witnessed how this institution has grown in terms of student population, employment and infrastructure,” she said.
The Labour chief also added that “As Labour and Employment Secretary, I know that maintaining a strong partnership with institutions like MAAP put into effect our national strategies to ensure steady supply of ‘competent’ seafarers for the world and ‘employment for our people.”
Baldoz further expounded on how the Philippine Government has drawn up strategies to enhance the country’s competitiveness to fulfil the growing demand for competent seafarers.
”We cannot afford to be complacent, as the competition is wide open and so we need to sustain the production of additional marine officers, thus our first strategy is the implementation of ‘quality control’ among ‘our’ seafarers, and to ensure quality control, we enlist the commitment of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Maritime Training Council (MTC) and the private sector to ‘promote quality education and skills training,” said the Department of Labour and Employment Secretary.
Baldoz also discussed the current country’s seafaring issues such as the one brought out by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and said that the government has maintained a ‘bold, yet receptive and responsive’ stance to the problem.