By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Thanks to a measure of consideration from the European Commission (EC), 50,000 Filipino seafarers deployed to Europe-flagged ships get to keep their jobs, at least for now.
This is a reminder that while the Philippines is the biggest source of seafarers for the global maritime industry, our country is not immune to the upgrading of international standards that has already disqualified 50,000 of our seafarers to European Maritime Safety Agency (Emsa)-certified licenses.
The fact remains that any holder of a Philippine seafarer’s license bears deficiencies under the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) since 2006.
It’s only a matter of time before all our 600,000 maritime industry workers worldwide are exposed to competency issues if our government moves much slower to meet STCW compliance.
Malacanang can harp on the wonders of the President’s assurances of compliance to EU transport officials when he visited Belgium last December to save the day. But at the end of it, those assurances must resolve the 23 deficiencies, as pointed out by Emsa; or that ship horn’s last call is a sure warning that all vessels shall sail with our Pinoy seafarers left at the ports.
Money lending scams
Money-lending scams continue to be a bane to our economy and much more so to the poor and most desperate among us, who are taken advantage of to be tied to loans they can never pay.
These syndicates squeeze resources on both ends, including the investors they trick into “triple-your-money” schemes they will never reap.
Not to absolve anyone, but even movie stars and people of good reputation in the community get dragged into these scams, given corporate titles, only to be left out to dry when the fraud is exposed and authorities come in with the warrants and handcuffs.
Is that what happened to Brigadier Gen. John Guyguyon, regional director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao? Very few details, if at all, were given out by the PNP, yet they’ve arrested a general from their ranks on non-bailable counts of syndicated estafa.
Lady cops refuse easy cash
March has passed, but before putting Women’s Month behind us, Firing Line shares the joy of Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano in paying tribute to the honesty and integrity of policewomen Monaliza Bosi and Charmaine Galapon.
The two lady cops refused a P100,000 bribe from Chinese national Bin Li, who works as a sales manager in the country. Bin had sought the release of his friend, Deng Jiliang, 33, an IT staff member, who was detained for possessing “shabu” and drug paraphernalia.
Col. Robert Baesa, Taguig City police chief, had described Bosi’s and Galapon’s faithfulness to their sworn duty as an “exemplary act worth emulating.” Well, may it be emulated regularly enough by our men and women in uniform that it may no longer be “exemplary” but “customary” in the PNP.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at httsp://www.thephilbiznews.com
