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The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is formulating procedures to ensure the continued employment of the country's seafarers overseas who fear losing their jobs to foreign nationals due to loopholes in their paper requirements.
Deck and engine officers blamed the PRC for their current plight, saying the PRC being the lead agency that issues their licenses should correct the flaws to maintain their marketability abroad.
Acting PRC Commissioner Alfonso Abad agreed with the seamen's observation, but pointed out that he inherited the problem from his predecessor.
Abad, who has been at the helm of the PRC for three months now, said he has formulated procedures to ensure the continued employment of Filipino seamen despite the technical setback.
He said he would require training centers under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Training Council to issue certificates for in-service training and refresher courses.
The PRC issues certificates of registration (COR) for deck officers and engine officers after passing the licensure examinations. Under Republic Act 8981, the COR is the seafarers' license to practice their profession. In case of marine officers, the Board of Marine Deck Officers issues certificates of competency.
The PRC has been mandated to issue certificates of endorsement to both deck and engine officers.
Abad, who is a former judge, had discovered that there are seamen who faked their certificates instead of attending training centers.
He said he is now considering signing bilateral agreements as a measure to recognize Philippine-issued certificates by other countries.
"There are other countries probably which do not recognize our documents. Through an agreement, we would recognize their certificates as much as the same that they would also recognize ours," Abad said.
The Philippines has recently forged a bilateral agreement with Netherlands in this process. Abad said Denmark would follow suit.
Abad also mentioned the necessity of simulators in constant rate of turn techniques for navigation in restricted waters, bridge resource management principles to navigational watchkeeping, and advanced fire fighting techniques. But he also underscored the high cost of using simulators, which most of the country's seamen cannot afford.
"When you train by simulators, you should also be assessed by simulators," Abad noted.
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