(File photo)
MANILA – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Monday welcomed the European Union's decision to continue recognizing the country’s seafarer training and certification system.
In a statement, CHED chairperson Prospero de Vera III said the EU’s move shows its acknowledgement of the improvements being implemented for the welfare of Filipino seafarers.
“This is a huge victory for the country. Now, after so many years, we finally get a note that our compliance efforts are recognized by the EU,” he said.
He noted that the recognition shall benefit around 50,000 Filipino seafarers.
De Vera then vowed to speed up progress in the education sector to equip graduates with skills necessary for the international setting, particularly for the EU-flagged ships.
“CHED is ready to work with MARINA (Maritime Industry Authority) and the maritime HEIs (higher education institutions) to fully implement the needed reforms based on the areas identified by the EU in its letter to guarantee that our graduates continue to be hired in international vessels,” he said.
The commission said targeted reforms include the intensifying of systems for "monitoring, supervision, and evaluation of training and assessment; examination and assessment of competence; program and course design and approval; availability and use of training facilities and simulators and; on-board training."
De Vera, meanwhile, lauded the efforts of the Marcos administration in highlighting measure to ensure compliance with standards set by the EU.
“We thank Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and MARINA for preparing the detailed compliance report with all the voluminous attachments so the EU can see that we are serious in answering the observations,” he said.
In December last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. visited Brussels to address issues concerning Filipino seafarers.
Last 2006, the EU and European Commission warned that a possible withdrawal of recognition of Filipino seafarers' certificates may be implemented by 2021 if Manila would fail to address deficiencies on the education, training and certification system for seafarers.
Since then, the country was able to drop reported lapse findings to nine in 2020 from the highest recorded 76 shortcomings from 2006 to 2017. (PNA)
