In my previous contributions to the Maritime Review, I highlighted the importance of an all-government approach to national security in updating a National Defense and Act. In my second contribution which was about Maritime Governance and administration, I highlighted the fragmentation of our various agencies and recommended amending the executive order that created the Coast Watch System, and updating the National Marine Policy. We now focus on Safety of Life At Sea.

• Maritime Disasters from boat accidents to large vessels burning and sinking has plagued us through the years. Accidents happen but can be prevented. Much has been said about interagency cooperation and coordination to address perennial overlapping functions among agencies, several round table discussions among focus groups and have formulated strategies, submitted white papers only to fall on blind eyes and deaf ears or perhaps our ningas cogon quirk took the best of us more often than not.

Presidential Certification of Urgency

Several bills related to Maritime Safety and or Maritime Governance had been filed and refilled in congress such as:

• The creation of a National Transport Safety Board;
• Maritime Code of the Philippines;
• Creation of Admiralty Courts; and
• Maritime Administration Act.

At present, the current Maritime Administration of our government is thinly spread among 14 bureaus and agencies under 7 departments. The fragmentation of our maritime administration has led to bureaucratic entanglement, functional overlaps, and conflicting maritime laws and regulations. The restructuring of maritime administration is a first step by creating one superbody consisting of maritime bureaus and agencies.

The creation of a National Transportation and Safety Board is a major step to promote transportation safety by conducting independent safety investigations and by formulating safety improvement recommendations.

The Maritime Code of the Philippines hopes to address the Philippines’ non-implementation of international conventions.

The Philippines has been a party to these international safety conventions:

• The International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (1974);
• The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution at Ships (1973);
• The Convention on International Regulations for the prevention of Collisions at Sea (1972);
• The International Convention of Load Lines (1966);
• The International Convention of Tonnage Measurement (1969).

The Philippines is not a part of the following conventions:

• SOLAS Protocol of 1988
• MARPOL Protocol of 1997
• Load Lines Protocol of 1988(amended 2003)

The Bill seeks to implement these protocols with MARINA as the lead agency.

Lastly, the creation of specialized Admiralty Maritime Courts will unclog our courts of all maritime case backlogs.

Like the National Defense Act Legislation, the Biazons have filled these bills as far back as the 13^th Congress. Certification of urgency from the past presidents were badly needed but certain circumstances prevented the bills’ passage.

It is a given that our institutions are fragmented, our bureaucracy is caught in an entangled web, turf wars overlapping functions happen more often than not.

A creation of the Coast Watch system seemed to have a failure of launching because of Command and Control Issues, so a creation of a super-body with Command and Control to handle Maritime Administration is a must.

A non-regulatory independent investigative body is also needed to handle maritime accidents, and safety incident investigations.

A Maritime Code will make our local safety laws and regulations in consonance with international safety laws.

Lastly the creation of the Maritime court will speed up the resolution of Maritime related cases.

I hope there is a way for the Legislative-​Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to meet more often to discuss bills that require certification of urgency.

About the Author:

Karl M Garcia’s interest in Maritime concerns developed while observing his dad through the years in his capacity as a retired Navy officer who supervised the Navy’s first phase of modernization and once led the Committee on the separation of the PCG from the PN. Karl joined his father later as a consultant to Senators Biazon and Trillanes. Karl holds a BS Computer Science degree from AMA Computer University, and an MBA from DLSU Graduate School of Business.