Maritime Industry In The Philippines

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DISCUSSION The Philippines is predominantly a country relying heavily in the maritime industry because of its geographical location and form. With these factors, many Filipinos are involved in the maritime industry and the numbers continue to grow. According to Abueva, J. (2015), 30% among the almost million mariners are Filipinos, making the Philippines as the “Manning capital of the World”. Almost 87,000 Filipinos are seafarers and beefs up the economy by bringing remittances worth $6 billion dollars, which is very significant and contributes to the country’s total Gross Domestic Product. However these significant contributions to our country are in danger because of some outdated policies, regulations, curriculum and safety standards that …show more content…

Comparing to other ASEAN nation’s maritime policies, education and training and safety, the Philippines is far behind them. It is an irony that the ones who supply most of the world’s seafarers is also the one who is lagging behind in terms of maritime policies and It is urgently needed to be changed and the lives of over a thousand Filipino mariners are at risk. Including millions of Filipino families who rely on the seafaring industry. Aside from the Filipino mariners being affected, our economy is also at risk due to the Philippine economy is accounting on the maritime industry, and to the Filipino seafarers’ remittances. The future of thousands of maritime students are also at risk. There will be a great challenge for them especially if the maritime policies will not be changed. Chances are they might not get aboard immediately. Competition will be tough since shipping companies will favor other seafarers. Worst case scenario is that shipping companies will stop employing Filipino …show more content…

In order to achieve this, the government must strictly enforce and ensure that modern maritime policies will be implemented, in all maritime activities in the country. The government especially the senate and the Maritime Industry Authority must immediately create a set of rules that will cover all of the maritime activities that is taking place in the country and make sure that it is aligned with the standards of the ASEAN Integration. The Customs must also be cleared from any forms of corruption, and focus on the improvement of port and shipping facilities and

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