Marina pushes for legislation to increase ship registry
THE Maritime Industry Authority ( Marina) has pushed for legislative actions, particularly on bareboat and financing to make the Philippine ship registry attractive.
Atty. Jean Ver Pia, Marina - Overseas Shipping Service (OSS) director, said they have identified ways to attract more foreign ship owners to register their ships in the Philippines and that is to review and amend the bareboat chartering program and ship mortgage law.
Presidential Decree ( PD) 760 as amended by PD 866 and 1711 instituted the scheme for bareboat chartering ocean- going ships and their registration under Philippine flag. Under the law, the ships should be bareboatchartered by Filipinos and should employ Filipino crew.
The scheme was intended to allow Filipino shipowners to have an avenue to eventually own ships. To support the scheme, incentives were given to the overseas sector through Republic Act (RA) 7471. The incentives were available for a period of 10 years and expired in 2002.
In 2004, RA 9301 was passed and incentives were again granted to the sector for a similar period of 10 years. The incentives expired in 2014.
Instead of increasing the number of ships in the registry and encouraging ship ownership, the number of registered ships has declined to 116 from a total of 400 ships when the bareboat charter scheme was first implemented in 1989, according to Rep. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat.
Baguilat authored House Bill 1288, “An act providing for the registration of ships and incentives therefor and for other purposes.”
“Today, many ship registries do not provide for incentives. Instead, most ship registries provide for a tonnage tax system to simplify the taxation scheme applicable to oceangoing ships,” Baguilat said.
Pia identified other components to have an attractive Philippine registry, in line with the planned establishment of a global maritime hub. These include the strengthening of regional and international cooperation such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean) and other similar bilateral agreements to support the competitive position of Philippine Flag Vessels; the strengthening of shipping services for Philippine export and import trade transportation; and development and promotion of ship financing schemes, and incentives for ship owning and shipping industry.
The Marina- OSS vowed to strengthen the ship management, ship brokerage, ship handling and ship insurance services; and the maritime administration through ratification and implementation of international maritime instruments and the restructuring of Marina.
Last year, the Philippines has ratified six International Maritime Organization
( IMO) conventions: Protocol of 1997 to Amend the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 Relating thereto ( MARPOL Annex VI); Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended ( SOLAS PROT 1978); Protocol of 1988 Relating to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966 ( Load Line Protocol 88); Protocol of 1988 Relating to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended ( SOLAS PROT 1988); International Convention on the Control of Harmful AntiFouling Systems on Ships, 2001 ( AFS 2001) and; International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water Sediments, 2004 ( BWM Convention).
Jose Venancio Vero, Marina’s Maritime Safety Service ( MSS) director, said they will ensure the strict and full compliance of Philippine- registered ships with significant IMO instruments relating to safety, security and marine environmental protection.
The conceptual framework on the maritime safety campaign would ensure the facilitation of trade and commerce as it would prevent the unnecessary interdiction of Philippine- registered ships by foreign port State control inspectors.
Marina also presented to the stakeholders the draft amendments to the Marina circulars on the “Rules in the Acquisition of Ships under Presidential Decree ( PD) 760, as amended; “Rules on the Accreditation of Maritime Enterprises,” and “Omnibus Rules on the Issuance of Special Permit for the Temporary Utilization of Philippineregistered ships whether Trading Overseas or Domestic,” respectively.
Marina has relaunched the Marina- OSS online registration system to promote ease and convenience in doing business in the overseas shipping industry. SEAFARING can never be a permanent profession. Not in this lifetime.
A mariner can only be as good as his experiences and skills, his employment limited to a mere three to nine-month contract, and come old age, he will be easily exchanged by his employer for a younger, stronger man.
Such career uncertainty is aggravated
obligation of sending nephews, nieces and siblings to school, building houses for their loved ones, supporting their extended families, going on vacations, and getting caught in the Filipino tradition of giving away pasalubong to relatives and friends upon their arrival in the country,
This stark reality in the life of a seafarer was what Capt. Gaudencio Morales intended to address when he established the Integrated Seafarers of the Philippines (ISP) in 2013.
“I knew what it was like to try and escape poverty by going into a dollarearning profession and sustain the basic needs of my entire family,” says Capt. Morales, known to his friends as Jess.
“I’ve been farming with my parents since I was 11 and they were then unsure whether I would even go to college.
Captain Gaudencio Morales, founder and president of the Integrated Seafarers of the Philippines ( ISP). months’ time but all of it was quickly spent on non-essentials; where did it go? How did they spend it? We understand how these mariners are breadwinners of extended families, but there are also some of them who are plain extravagant. We want to educate them on the difference of needs and wants,” Capt. Morales explained.
He added that the main person in charge of a seafarer’s earnings and savings is their wife. “They should also be educated because they are the ones holding the money; they should learn how to save and invest to sustain their family’s needs even when their husbands are not able to work onboard,” the ISP founder explained. The Financial Literacy program in
- tween “needs” and “wants” that seem to tear seafarers when faced with purchases.
“Most of these guys would buy cars before investing on a house; cars are not a necessity,” Capt. Morales opined, noting the latest ISP survey showing that less than 50 percent of Filipino seamen own a house, while less than 10 percent have their own businesses.
Many business do not prosper, others