ILOILO City – The lack of financial resources to secure technologically-improved hull materials is a major challenge to boat operators and associations of Iloilo and Guimaras that have been told to change their wooden-hulled boats to either aluminum, steel or fiberglass. Despite this, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) is not suspending or revoking its order phasing out wooden-hulled passenger ships and boats.
During a workshop held as an offshoot of the Aug. 3 capsizing of three motorboats at the Iloilo Strait, MARINA OIC administrator Vice Admiral Narciso Vingson Jr. stressed the importance of upholding maritime safety and promoting the comfort of the riding public through the use of modern boats.
The workshop held in Guimaras provided an opportunity for local boat associations to raise their concerns.
Gov. Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras and Cong. Lucille Nava themselves earlier warned of the economic dislocation of motorboat operators, crew and their families if the phase out of wooden-hulled boats is not done gradually.
Anticipating the financial concern, MARINA brought to the workshop representatives from the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). They bared a financing program called CRUISE or Connecting Rural Urban Intermodal Systems Efficiently.
The financing program reinforces the development of an integrated and multimodal national transport and logistics system in the country. The loan is payable in 15 years.
Individual boat operators, however, are not eligible under the CRUISE. Only the following are qualified: private corporations, government agencies, local government units, government-owned and controlled corporations, financial institutions, and cooperatives.
So what should boat operators and associations of Iloilo and Guimaras do?
They were encouraged to form cooperatives so they may explore other business ventures to further increase shared capital and enjoy tax exemption.
Among the resource persons during the workshop were representatives from the Caticlan-Boracay Transport Multipurpose Cooperative. They shared their success story of deploying 12 fiberglass boats to cater to approximately 15,000 daily passengers in the Caticlan-Boracay shipping route and how it helped them build their shared capital of P218 million.
Several local and international boat builders and shipbuilders – including the OCEA Shipbuilding and Industries, Philippines PIO-Ship Inc., Metallica Shipyard, Lacson Marine Consultancy, Swerte Grande Ventures Corp., Suzuki, Pinoy Catamaran, and the Boat Industries Association of the Philippines – also participated in the Aug. 22 workshop.
They presented available boats and ship designs made of aluminum, steel, or fiberglass that the stakeholders may consider as replacements to existing wooden-hulled ships.
These modern designs are proven to be safer, more durable, and more environment-friendly, as well as consume less fuel and provide more convenient services to the riding public, according to MARINA.
Meanwhile, local government officials who attended the workshop – Mayor Siegfredo Betita of Carles, Iloilo, Guimaras’ Cong. Nava, Gov. Gumarin, Vice Gov. John Edward Gando, and Mayor Eugenio Reyes of Buenavista, Guimaras – committed to extend assistance to boat operators and associations in the process of phasing out their wooden-hulled ships and its replacement with technologically-improved hull materials.
Other sources of employment, especially for sailors who will be displaced as a result of the phase out, may also be created, they said./PN
