DOLE: PHL confident of meeting intl standards on maritime educ

The Philippines expressed confidence it can correct the deficiencies noted by the European Commission’s Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on the country’s compliance with international standards on seafarers’ education, training, and certification. In a news release posted on the DOLE website on Friday, Acting Labor Secretary Danilo Cruz said the Philippines will most likely finish correcting ahead of the August deadline the deficiencies on maritime education and training. The deficiencies were noted by the European Commission’s Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) as it assessed the Philippines' compliance with the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping) Convention on the system concerning seafarers’ education, training, and certification. “The Maritime Training Council, Professional Regulation Commission, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Commission on Higher Education have been working closely and doubly hard to undertake the corrective actions on the deficiencies and shall be submitting the report by the end of the month," Cruz said. “We are fully confident that we can address these deficiencies and submit the report before the end of August," he added. Deficiencies EMSA inspectors visited the country to verify the Philippines’ compliance with the training education, and certification system under the STCW Convention. The deficiencies that the EMSA inspectors noted were those about: