Maritime school sinks dreams of aspiring seamen

Tweet

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines - A maritime school in Quiapo, Manila continues to accept enrollees who want to become seamen even though its license has been revoked. Graduates of the Philippine Seafarers Training Center (PSTC) were not recognized as seamen, so that they cannot get a Seaman's Book for them to board ships even though they have received certificates from the school.

This was revealed after more than 100 aspiring seamen trooped to TV5 after the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) refused to accept the certificate of Basic Safety Training the graduates received from PSTC.

The Maritime Training Council has revoked the accreditation of PSTC to teach the Basic Safety Training.

Enrollees, who had to pay more than P4,000 for a week's training, were not aware that the school's license had been revoked because the school continued to accept enrollees.

According to the Marina, the license of PSTC was revoked because it continued to violate regulations such as hiring teachers who are not accredited with the MTC, not having the appropriate books in its library, and inadequate facilities.

“Because of that, we cannot accept the PSTC-conducted Basic Safety Training,” said Arhleen Romero, of Marina's Manpower Development Office.

An official of PSTC,who refused to be named, insisted that they can still accept enrollees because their case is under appeal before the Department of Labor and Employment and the court.

But Atty. Regie Queen Inguito of MTC countered that the revocation of PSTC's license continues unless it gets a restraining order from the court.

Follow @interaksyon