Maritime center not closing shop

A big maritime center belied reports yesterday that the Court of Appeals dismissed or junked its petition for review following the decision of the Office of the President to revoke its accreditation as a training center.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier ordered the revocation of Far East Maritime Foundation, Inc.’s accreditation with the Maritime Training Council after a competitor complained that it is a foundation, not a training center. In a statement, officials of the FEMFI said their petition for review was merely returned to them because it did not comply with the prescribed rules of court, but was never dismissed by the CA based on its merits.

FEMFI legal counsel and spokesman Antonio Carpio said “the decision had something to do with a technical glitch in our petition and we were given enough time to file our motion for consideration.”

At the same time, Carpio assured that “FEMFI is very much open and there is no cause for Filipino seafarer trainees or those who are scheduled to undergo trainings at the institution to be worried or alarmed.”

“The erroneous reports in the media were the handiwork of a certain competitor spreading malicious information because if our operations stop, it would certainly benefit from it,” Carpio said.

FEMFI will remain the leading maritime training center in the country having been in the maritime industry for close to 17 years. It has trained thousands of seafarers who have excelled in their profession internationally, Carpio said.

In a related development, the 35,000-strong United Filipino Seafarers critized moves by a certain sector which engages in unfair competition practices. “This only reflects how desperate some training centers have become to get trainees, amid economic crisis,” UFS president Nelson Ramirez said. — Nestor Etolle