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The recent scrapping of Panama's transitional certificate of competency (TCC) for Filipino seafarers applying for jobs on Panamanian-flag vessels has not stopped some smart guys at the Panamanian Consulate in Manila from extracting money from thousands of Filipino seafarers.
The TCC, which would not recognize Philippine certificate of competency, had forced Filipino seamen to pay the required fees and mandatory examination since 1989. Since then, the TCC had long served as a money machine of the consulate.
But it had to be scrapped beginning January this year following protests from seafarers and later by crewing agents and shipowners, who complained that the system had been contributing to manpower crisis by making Filipino officers more scrace due to the professed difficulty of the unwarranted exams.
With the scrapping of the TCC, Panamanian national Adrian Reimar Quiros* left his job at the consulate in Manila and formed a company called Panamanian Maritime Services Inc. (PMSI).
The firm is supposed to be engaged in aiding Filipino seafarers get their Panamanian licenses for a fee.
Since the TCC scrapping and formation of PMSI, the Panamanian consulate issued in March a circular informing crewing agencies and unions that it would take at least two weeks to process the certificates.
Enter the PMSI. For $30, which is more than the Panamanian rates used worldwide, PMSI can issue the certificate within the same day the application is filed.
Consulate sources said that Quiros, who has not obtained alien permit to make him eligible for work in the Philippines, is a good friend of Panamanian ambassador to the Philippines, Juan Carlos Escalona.
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