MANILA, Philippines - Jebsens Maritime, Inc. (JMI), the crewing arm of Aboitiz Jebsen (Abojeb), together with the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc recently announced its 2009 line-up of Marine Engineering (MarE) scholars. The awarding of eight new scholars and the contract signing with the benefactors and the scholars’ parents were held at the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu Mandaue Campus (UC-LM).
The Abojeb-Aboitiz Foundation scholarship grants are in line with the Aboitiz Group’s vision to help the youth have access to better education and employment opportunities. Aboitiz Jebsen is a 26-year-old joint venture between the Aboitiz Group of the Philippines and the Jebsens Group of Norway. It is an international provider of crewing, ship management and total transport solutions and services. Its crewing arm Jebsens Maritime, Inc (JMI) has a pool of close to 8,000 highly qualified seafarers and supplies crew to nearly 400 vessels of varied types. JMI is a recipient of several Awards of Excellence and Top Performer Awards from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency.
The scholars are Cristoval Abello, Alven Booc, Zoren Ehimplar, Luie Fuentes, Mark Lister Gonzales, Chuck Mandal, Jude Rhey Piol, and Dariel Sancados. The scholars were among the top 20 percent of their high school batch. They showed good potential to excel but were financially constrained to get a college education.
The Abojeb JMI-Aboitiz Foundation scholarship program was established in 2006, with the first batch of scholars composed of 10 MarE students from the UC-Maritime Education and Training Center, and eight from Davao Merchant Marine Academy of Southern Philippines. They graduated last April and are currently onboard Aboitiz Transport System vessels for the primary phase of their shipboard training. They will eventually be transferred to overseas vessels manned by Abojeb to complete their training requirements.
“We are confident that our second batch of scholars will be as successful as the first in the pursuit of their dreams to become future marine engineers of the Abojeb fleet. Abojeb and the Aboitiz Foundation will always be there to support them,” said Vidal.
The new scholars are presently enrolled at the UC-LM, recognized as one of the country’s top maritime institutions. Under the program, Abojeb-JMI in partnership with the Aboitiz Foundation, takes care of the beneficiaries’ tuition fees, medical needs, training costs and other academic needs.
“The support that Abojeb and the Aboitiz Foundation is giving to the scholars is of great value to UC-LM, and to UC as a whole. If the students will continue to study and work hard, they will have a brighter future after college, and inspire more prospective enrollees to take up MarE,” said UC LM-Norwegian Shipowners Association (NSA) coordinator Judith Almonte.