The umbrella organization of domestic shipping operators is pushing for the installation of a new Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) administrator.
The post has been vacant since Emerson Lorenzo retired a few months ago. Atty. Nicasio Conti has been appointed officer-in-charge concurrent with his positions as Marina deputy administrator for planning and Transportation and Communications spokesperson.
But with Conti’s close ties to former Transport Secretary and now Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, he is widely expected to be transferred to the Department of Interior and Local Government.
“One of our wants right now really is to have a new Marina administrator,” Philippine Interisland Shipping Association executive director Ernesto Paguyo told PortCalls.
“The position has been vacant for quite some time now and there have been some disruptions in the continuity of service,” he added.
“There are pending policies in the shipping industry right now that can only be carried out with a permanent administrator and we are clamoring for government to assign one soonest,” Paguyo said.
Among pending policies before Marina are the Omnibus Maritime Code of the Philippines, implementation of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code, and the transfer of supervision of the seafreight forwarding industry from the Philippine Shippers Bureau to Marina.
By next year, Marina is also expected to fully impose the double-hull requirement for tankers carrying white oil and its by products as well as several policies related to shipbuilding.
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