MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday allotted P5 million to improve the water supply of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) in San Narciso, Zambales to address the lack of clean potable water of the townsfolk and local businesses.
In his speech keynoting the 189th commencement exercises of the PMMA, the President said it was important that the residents, especially the academy’s diligent and hardworking students and employees, got their basic necessities met in order to perform their respective jobs well.
The President said it would be lamentable if those training to become seafarers would lack water supply. San Marcelino town has been suffering from lack of water for years.
In his speech, the President congratulated the 241 PMMA graduates for hurdling what he called the “easy” part of their careers, adding that it was now time to buckle down to hard work.
He noted that Filipino seafarers account for 25 percent of the 1.3 million seafarers worldwide due to their diligence, hard work and seriousness toward their craft.
This is why, the President added, Filipino seafarers were the biggest remittance contributors to the national coffers.
“In 2011, the total remittances of seafarers amounted to $4.34 billion – 21.58 percent of the total $20.12-billion remittances of overseas Filipino workers,” he said.