CALOOCAN CITY, (PIA) --The country's premier maritime school and one of Asia's oldest, the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA), recently entered into a partnership with cruise leader Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) assuring cadets of berths on board any of its luxury ships and secure jobs for the students upon their graduation.
CCL, in cooperation with its local human resource partner, Human Development Organization Inc. (HDO), signed a Student Development and Recruitment Agreement with the government maritime institutions on September 30, 2022, at Mariott Hotel, Pasay City.
Present in the MOA Signing Ceremony is Commodore Joel Y Abutal PMMA, Ms. Bettina Deynes, and Richard Brearley of CCL. Witness this momentous event is Honorable Jaime J. Bautista, DOTr Secretary, and Honorable Elmer Sarmiento, Undersecretary for Maritime, DOTr.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has been vocal that the DoTr will take an active role in job generation, international partnerships, and improvement of skills.
In a brief interview with the media, Bautista said that the project will impact the current dearth of training berths for the country’s maritime graduates and will boost the industry’s efforts to continue supplying the best and most qualified crew to the global shipping fleet- both merchant and cruise.
The partnership will also see the selection of students to whom cadetship, internship, and employment opportunities will be granted on a per batch basis with PMMA maintaining an updated list of students who may wish to avail themselves of CCL’s offer.
Under the said agreement, PMMA shall provide appropriate training programs at different levels of their PMMA education, geared towards the development and upgrading of the professional and technical skills of its students and graduates in various merchant marine fields, to prepare them for their shipboard training onboard CCL vessels.
PMMA shall also provide training aids and materials for use of the students during the shipboard training and they shall be under the direct supervision and control of the officers of the vessel of CCL.
For their part, CCL and HDO shall provide the students with the opportunity to board the ships as a sea-going laboratory where deck and engine cadets are given study guides called SEA PROJECT, and are required to complete written assignments, which are submitted to the Parties quarterly for evaluation, and their grades.
CCL, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, shall provide each cadet with suitable accommodations, meals, and emergency medical and treatment/service, in the same manner as regular crew members are provided with such amenities and benefits during his or her period of shipboard training.
CCL shall instruct its ship officers to extend their full cooperation to the development of the cadets and to impart to them their knowledge and expertise, with the end goal of issuing a Certificate of Sea Service to the cadets at the end of their shipboard program.
Furthermore, under the agreement, HDO and CCL shall ensure that all persons conducting onboard training, including assessments for cadets, shall have the necessary qualifications.
CCL shall also ensure that each cadet is covered under their Protection and Indemnity policy as supernumerary personnel as well as free transportation from Manila to the point of embarkation of his or her vessels and back. (DOTr/PIA-NCR)
