TIM eMagazine Volume 3 Issue 7 | Page 11

ANGKLA Brings Two New Maritime Centers to Visayan Seafarers MARINA (Maritime Industry Authority) Region 6 Bacolod extension office A NGKLA Party-List Jesulito `Jess’ Manalo inaugurated two new four-storeys MARINA buildings, one in Iloilo City and another in Bacolod, Negros Occidental as a fitting gift to the maritime sector it represents during last week’s Maritime Week 2018. Manalo said the buildings are to be used as maritime centers by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to service seafarers and the whole maritime industry in Region VI. The two new buildings bring to three the number of government owned MARINA buildings in the Visayas. The Cebu MARINA building was inaugurated earlier this year. MARINA Administrator Rey L. Guerrero acknowledged that it was ANGKLA Representative Jess Manalo that secured the P480million for inclusion in the National Expenditure Program for the construction of the buildings, which includes the P300 million MARINA building along Roxas Boulevard now in its completion stage. It was also ANGKLA that secured idle government lands which lay unused as sites for these new buildings on a usufruct arrangement. The MARINA building in Negro Occidental sits on a 2000 square meter land in Panaad Park, Mansilingan, Bacolod City provided by Governor Alfredo Maranon, a known staunch supporter of the maritime industry. The TIM eMagazine Vol.3 Issue 7 MARINA Region VI building sits on a land along De La Rama St., Iloilo City provided by Philippine Ports Authority through PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago. Manalo of ANGKLA said MARINA having its own buildings in Manila and in the regions is not only a dream come true but a testament to ANGKLA’s total commitment to serve the maritime industry. Manalo said the new buildings would not only save the government hundreds of millions in rental fees but would bring the government closer to the mariners in the regions. ANGKLA would like to bring MARINA closer to the seafarers in the Visayas so they won/t have to travel to Manila for the processing of their seaman’s book, exams, certificates of competencies, and other processes necessary for employment and study, Manalo said. Guerrero on the other hand said he could not thank Angkla, enough for its valuable support for the seafarers and the maritime industry as a whole and for paving the way for MARINA to have its own four new buildings in the short span of time ANGKLA is in Congress. He said ANGKLA has done for the maritime sector what no other sectoral representative has done. ANGKLA Party-List Congressman Jess Manalo explained that ANGKLA secured the funds for the construction of the maritime centers so that seafarers in Iloilo and Negros Occidental will no longer have to travel to Manila and wait in long lines to process their documents and take their exams. With the new buildings, ANGKLA fulfilled its promise to build maritime centers in the regions especially in the Visayas where a substantial portion of Philippine maritime professionals, students, businesses and maritime stakeholders are from. MARINA will use the maritime centers in Iloilo City and in Bacolod, Negros Occidental to conduct written examinations for seafarers, issue certifications and identification documents, pursue maritime research, and provide training to MARINA staff and personnel. Susan Amoroso MJAP Rogelio Benjamin J. Redoble, ANGKLA Party List. ANGKLA would like to bring MARINA closer to the seafarers in the Visayas so they won/t have to travel to Manila for the processing of their seaman’s book, exams, certificates of competencies, and other processes necessary for employment and study, Manalo said. 11