COPs are certificates issued by Marina to a seafarer to attest his/her compliance with the relevant requirements of training, competencies, and seagoing service prescribed in the STCW Convention. They have resorted to seeking the assistance of fixers in hopes of quickly securing the certificate they need. He also disclosed that there was a batch of unaccounted security paper that was believed to have been stolen from the Marina office. If the forgery was committed prior to the implementation of MC-SC 2021-04, then the original penalty of P5,000 will still apply for the first offense. Memorandum Circular SC 2021-04 series of 2021 refers to the Revised Rules in the Issuance and Revalidation of Certificate of Proficiency.

Source: Manila Times June 08, 2022 04:13 UTC