THE International Maritime Organization has warned that unless the Philippines can clarify certain issues regarding its "Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping 1995" clarificatory report, the country will fail to make the white list of countries complying with the STCW'95 convention.

This was disclosed by ambassador Cesar B. Bautista, the permanent representative of the Philippines to the IMO, in a memorandum to the Philippines secretary of foreign affairs.

"I have the unpleasant duty to submit a letter from the IMO secretary-general of March 3 advising us that our country's clarification of February 25 failed to address the issues raised earlier by the panel of competent persons," Mr Bautista said. "We immediately met with the secretary-general on this serious subject where he categorically stated that our delegates will have to ensure that they can clarify the issues raised during the Tokyo meeting or we will fail to make it to the white list," he added.

The IMO panel of experts reviewing the Philippines STCW compliance report have called for a final meeting in Tokyo on April 26 to 27 to discuss deficiencies in the Philippines report.

While a number of issues were raised, these queries revolve around the single question on "which agency is ultimately responsible for STCW '95 compliance".
IMO secretary-general William O'Neil in his March 3 letter to the Philippines embassy in London noted that "the panel is concerned that there still does not appear to be a single entity that has full responsibility for administering the STCW convention".

A sticking point in the Philippines STCW'95 compliance report is the role of the Maritime Industry Authority which has been designated as the lead agency for STCW administration and is one of two agencies endorsing Filipino deck officers and marine engineers STCW '95 certificates.

The Maritime Industry Authority, however, does not have any control or involvement in the development or enforcement of the rules nor does it supervise the registration and certification of competency for marine officers and engineers.

These responsibilities are vested with another agency - the Professional Regulatory Commission - over which the Maritime Industry Authority has no control over.

The Philippines has tried to address this issue by having the Maritime Industry Authority and Professional Regulatory Commission as co-signatories to the STCW '95 endorsement certificates of Filipino marine officers. The IMO panel of experts has rejected this solution, however.