Gov’t drawing up maritime industry development plan (1)
                     Gov’t drawing up maritime 
industry development plan
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 
has ordered the Department of 
Transportation (DOTr) to 
develop the maritime and 
aviation sectors to boost the 
country’s economy and provide 
jobs for Filipinos, according to 
Officer-in-Charge Press 
Secretary Cheloy Garafil.
Marcos directed the DOTr to draw up a “maritime industry 
development plan” that will develop and enhance the maritime 
sector and improve ports to attract more cruise ship visits that will 
help boost the tourism industry, Garafil said in a press conference 
on October 11
She said these orders were given by the President at the 
Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where DOTr presented its 
programs. Garafil noted transportation is one of the priority 
sectors of the administration.
She said Marcos also directed the Maritime Industry 
Authority (MARINA) to address issues on maritime 
schools, including ship boarding requirements of maritime 
students.
He ordered MARINA to upgrade the 
competencies of Maritime Schools And 
Trainings “to give students advantage and put 
them to international standards” to ensure the 
country remains the top supplier of seafarers 
worldwide.
DOTr Undersecretary for Maritime Elmer Francisco Sarmiento 
told PortCalls in a text message that DOTr and MARINA will be 
updating the latter’s 10-year Maritime Industry Development 
Plan (MIDP), which will “be approved ultimately by the 
President.”
In a separate statement, MARINA 
said it has committed to the 
President the updating of its 
MIDP and its alignment to the 
administration’s 8-Point Priority 
Economic Agenda.
MARINA’s MIDP 2019-2028 
– initially launched in 2017 
and updated last year – is 
a decade-long roadmap 
aimed at accelerating the 
development of a 
nationally integrated and 
globally competitive 
Philippine maritime 
industry.
The MIDP 2019-2028 is the first comprehensive effort to understand 
and address the Philippine maritime sector’s core problem and its 
underlying causes in order to plan and implement programs that 
better meet the demands of the maritime industry, successfully 
address key challenges, and lead to seizing of opportunities in both 
Domestic And Global Arenas.
Under Presidential Decree No. 474 (Maritime Industry Decree 
of 1974), the maritime agency should create master plans 
for the industry. The last 10-year roadmap drawn up by 
MARINA was in the 1980s.
Marcos also ordered a review of unsolicited project proposals 
for existing airports and to build new ones in various areas of 
the country.
DOTr had earlier said it eyeing private sector participation in 
rehabilitating NAIA.
On October 10, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told 
media forum that nine ongoing regional airport projects worth 
close to P1 trillion are set for completion in 2023. He said there 
are 10 other regional airports that the DOTr plans to upgrade, 
expand, and operate under the public-private partnership 
scheme, as well as four regional airports that the agency plans 
to build. – Roumina Pablo
For more information about Phillipines Ports and Shipping, visit 
https://www.picsi.com.ph/