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POEA REITERATES THE IMPORTANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY (COP) IN BASIC SAFETY TRAINING COURSE

The Philippine overseas Employment Administration (POEA) calls the attention of all Philippines manning agencies that deploy seafarers without a Certificate of Proficiency (COP) in Basic Safety Training Course, with their publication of Advisory No. 04 (Series of 2009)dated 15 January 2010.

Many manning agencies are reported to have been deploying crew onboard foreign flag vessels, even without the required COP and BST, which circumvent the Maritime Training policy of the issuance of said certificate.

It is hereby reiterated by POEA that all manning agencies must ensure that all seafarers assigned to any of its ship must hold an appropriate certificate of proficiency.

If any crew will be found by FSC not a holder of COP, the manning agency will be compelled to send back crew home and the vessel may also be put on hold unless said deficiency is complied with

Unfortunately, on 12 October 2009, the MRC have issued Memorandum Circular No. 6 (Series of 2009), Termination of Portfolio Assessment for Basic safety at the National Assessment Center(NAC)

The circular cease from accepting portfolio assessment of seafarers except those seafarers whose sea service was acquired on board domestic vessels at least 500GRT/750KW, subject to following:

  1. He must be a holder of certificate of basic safety training issued by the MTC-accredited maritime training center; and
  2. He must present both the original and photocopy of the Seafarer’s Identification Record Book (SIRB) for verification.

In the absence of the above requirements, seafarers must enroll for re-training of his basic safety at any MTC accredited training centers and attend for interview at NAC for them to be issued the COP.

Please ensure that all seafarers must be a holder of COP in Basic Safety to avoid incontinence in your vessel’s business, especially in this time of shipping depression.