The EMSA assessors have arrived. They landed in the country last March 13 and stayed for ten days. All during this time, I’ve been crossing my fingers that the auditors would stick to their itinerary and refrain from any surprise visits to institutions that have not been included in their list of duly-accredited maritime schools. You see, there are awkward instances of maritime schools that are supposedly suspended, yet defiantly continuing to go about their business of ‘teaching’ (I use this term loosely) and collecting tuition. Schools like PMI Manila, and PMI Quezon City, for instance. Then there are schools who were granted accreditation, despite dubious practices. Allow me to cite the curious case of PNTC Cavite, that issues diplomas and transcripts for students who actually matriculate at PNTC Intramuros and at PNTC Sta. Mesa. Likewise, DCIT, Zamboanga City who does the same favor for their sister campus in Dipolog City. And let’s now forget BIT Bohol, and BIT Siquijor who have the same arrangement. The part that’s hard for me to swallow is that these unethical practices are not exactly a secret, but nothing is being done to decisively put a stop to them, despite more than ten years since the EMSA assessors first came to the Philippines in 2006. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve been pointing out that we keep shooting our foot as far as the EMSA evaluations are concerned. Since 2006, there has been two major deficiencies that have been keeping us from getting the European Union’s nod: serious gaps in quality management implementation and the lack of an effective monitoring system for maritime education and training institutions (METIs). For a while under Atty. Nick Conti’s term, things actually started to look bright. The EMSA assessors were able to discern considerable improvement towards the two major deficiencies cites, and all that remained was to correct two minor deficiencies. Atty. Conti realized that the Philippines could benefit from international maritime experts, and he brought in consultants to help. Enter the indomitable Dr. Maximo Meija (cue the circus music). Dr. Meija, finding that Atty. Conti has earmarked millions of pesos in read more >>

The EMSA assessors have arrived. They landed in the country last March 13 and stayed for ten days. All during this time, I’ve been crossing my fingers that the auditors would stick to their itinerary and refrain from any surprise visits to institutions that have not been included in their list of duly-accredited maritime schools.

You see, there are awkward instances of maritime schools that are supposedly suspended, yet defiantly continuing to go about their business of ‘teaching’ (I use this term loosely) and collecting tuition. Schools like PMI Manila, and PMI Quezon City, for instance. Then there are schools who were granted accreditation, despite dubious practices. Allow me to cite the curious case of PNTC Cavite, that issues diplomas and transcripts for students who actually matriculate at PNTC Intramuros and at PNTC Sta. Mesa. Likewise, DCIT, Zamboanga City who does the same favor for their sister campus in Dipolog City. And let’s now forget BIT Bohol, and BIT Siquijor who have the same arrangement.

The part that’s hard for me to swallow is that these unethical practices are not exactly a secret, but nothing is being done to decisively put a stop to them, despite more than ten years since the EMSA assessors first came to the Philippines in 2006.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve been pointing out that we keep shooting our foot as far as the EMSA evaluations are concerned. Since 2006, there has been two major deficiencies that have been keeping us from getting the European Union’s nod: serious gaps in quality management implementation and the lack of an effective monitoring system for maritime education and training institutions (METIs).

For a while under Atty. Nick Conti’s term, things actually started to look bright. The EMSA assessors were able to discern considerable improvement towards the two major deficiencies cites, and all that remained was to correct two minor deficiencies. Atty. Conti realized that the Philippines could benefit from international maritime experts, and he brought in consultants to help.

Enter the indomitable Dr. Maximo Meija (cue the circus music). Dr. Meija, finding that Atty. Conti has earmarked millions of pesos in read more >>