He who found God on the streets
THE same, but different.
This is how Michael John Esplago sees himself years after relinquishing his active maritime industry role.
Esplago is among the pack of accomplished millennials deemed “achievers” in their respective fields in the maritime industry. He sailed the world and became a ship officer at the young age of 26, survived a violent pirate attack, served the government through the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), and eventually represented the country in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London. Later, he became part of a company that produces adaptive books for maritime students.
Industry stakeholders, leaders and movers knew Esplago. He was everywhere — a busy, uptight man with so much on his plate. He was often serious, dressed in power suits and walked in purposeful strides. He had the air of a government official who was “up there.” Competitive. Intimidating.
The man who spent weeks with The Manila Times, however, was different.
He breezed in with a large grin, comfortable in his plain shirt and jeans, his hair slightly disheveled. He would plop down on a couch and engage in a casual conversation that would gently steer into deep reflections of life. Then he would get up, walk around, sing, and do little, silly dances. His smiles were larger, his laughs were harder, and he took each day with a great sense of adventure.
Mikee, as he preferred to be called nowadays, looked happier and a lot more relaxed.
“I love the sea. Just sitting there watching the world go by, working with a foreign crew, commanding a ship — it’s all different out there. I found peace at sea,” he said.
But seafaring was so many lifetimes ago for Esplago. The life he is living now, a life in the visual arts, led him to another realization — he found God on the streets.
Rediscovering a passion for arts
The man is now deeply involved in photography and media production. It was a passion rediscovered during the pandemic. In a festival coverage in Iloilo, Esplago asked to be left behind to explore the city and take a few more shots.
It was that day when one of life’s truths unraveled itself to him.
“For too long, we have been taught to view success and spiritual enlightenment as distant peaks, attainable only through arduous ascent. Yet in the pulsating heart of Dinagyang, I discovered a truth more profound — that the Divine resides not in the distant heavens, but in the beating heart of humanity itself.”
Esplago lived the “arduous ascent” of success. He began at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) in Mariveles, Bataan, and moved on to the busy streets of Manila and out into the august halls of IMO in London. He was already at the peak of his career; thus, the question that bothered many of his colleagues was, why move to a different trade? Why so different? Why so far?
“I found that I am good with photography, and I enjoy it. I also have a mindset of scaling things, that I needed to do something good about this,” he said.
Just as he studied law when he simply wanted to understand its principles, Esplago delved into his passion by entering a Philippine fashion institute and a British school of photography.
The craft revealed the creative side of Esplago and all his colorful qualities that would otherwise have been buried by a nine-to-five job. He was candid when he stated that he hated the Bundy clock system and all things clerical.
What started as a hobby is now a company. Today, Esplago helps companies build their brands through photography and media productions. He now runs a studio just above a coffee shop in San Juan City and helps with brand management.
He shall return
“This is just a phase, though. I enjoy and love what I do now, but I will still eventually return to the maritime industry. But one day, if I am to maintain a portfolio in maritime, it will be something that helps seafarers out. I know that the International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (Iswan) has been helping thousands of seafarers with their mental health way before it became a thing. This is something I would love to do,”Esplago said, sharing that he also has been serving as Iswan’s trustee since 2022.
As someone who’s been at the core of the industry and has become a person who observes from the outside, Esplago opines that the Philippine maritime industry, particularly its policies, is improving. He commended the digitalization of maritime administration, the concepts of which were born during his time in Marina.
He laments, however, the constant shifting of priorities and changes in administrators that had significant effects on the industry. “I felt like the industry has not moved on from the STCW. Some are still peddling their interpretation of the convention when the problem was simply consistent execution. That’s what is damaging us.
“There are those, however, who put us back on track, albeit their policies are controversial and unpopular,” he said.
And without naming names, Esplago commended an administrator who, despite being unpopular, earned the sought-after approval of the European Union. “He did not deserve the credit solely, but he was part of it. For the longest time, the EU was just giving us extensions to comply with international standards; it was only during his time that we finally passed. And it was the only performance indicator in the whole country,” he said.
Indeed, Esplago seemed a different man today, but his words still ring the same passion and interest in the industry as they did before.