Earl Maghirang

Manila will play host for this year’s Philippine-Japan Manning Cooperative Forum with the theme “A Sustainable and United Partnership Towards Global Maritime Leadership – Ensuring a Safe, Stable and Respectable Maritime Community and will feature speakers from Japan who will discuss an overview of the state of the order to maintain its maritime leadership. For their part, Filipino speakers will tackle its activities and programs which will directly respond to the Japanese initiatives. The Department of Education will also face the human resource requirement of Japan through its secondary education strategies while the Commission on Higher Education will discuss the responsibilities and relevance of the maritime curriculum to the said HR requirements of the Japan’s maritime industry. Meanwhile the Department of Labor and Employment is expected to talk about the various employment policies, initiatives and programs that will proactively respond to Japanese demands including those of the maritime sectors. A comprehensive map for the Philippine-Japan maritime community is also expected to be set-up before the end of the forum.

For 2006, The Japan-Philippines Manning Conference, held in Tokyo, Japan and was attended by the International Mariners Management Association of Japan, the Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council, Inc., the Japanese Shipowners Association and representatives from the Philippine and Japanese governments, focused their attention not only in meeting the challenge of getting a stable supply of seafarers but also on the long term maritime partnership between the two countries.

2006’s goal went beyond just building a maritime community within which both countries can move around safely and progressively, but also to broaden and heighten the skills and capacities of these seafarers given various work opportunities beyond the seafaring profession.

The Filipino delegates strengthened its commitment to develop a system to successfully propagate global competitiveness of Filipino seafarers. The procedures included further promotion of better maritime education as well as stabilization of the legal system in the country. During one of the speeches, the need to develop a sense of ownership as well as a sense of pride in their commitment was raised in regards to the Filipino seafarers. By setting high the professional, ethical and cultural standards of the industry, especially in the light of globalization, a hope for a new breed of Filipino seafarers, labeling them as "World Champions" in their own right, emerged.

The conference ended with a Joint Statement signed by PJMCC President Eduardo Manese and IMMAJ Chairman Nobuo Kayahara that addressed the challenge of the rising demand for competent seafarers. The statement also dwelled on strengthening international industrial ties by pursuing better terms and conditions for the advancement of the Philippines-Japan commitment.