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:
-
He must be a holder
of certificate of basic safety training issued
by the MTC-accredited maritime training center;
and
-
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.
