“China became communist and my dad had two ships. His father told him, don’t come back to China, we’re all running away already. Mom said, ‘Why don’t you just come to the Philippines?’ And he set up Magsaysay Lines.”

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It wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate to say that Filipinos keep the world economy afloat.

That’s because Filipino seafarers comprise over 30 percent of the world’s one million seafarers, and to the Philippine economy contribute over $5 billion in annual remittances.

“The reality is that shipping plays a very important service carrying over 90 percent of everything that you and I and everyone in the world use and consume,” says Magsaysay Group president and CEO Doris Magsaysay-Ho. “It makes an important contribution to humanity.”

The Magsaysay Group of Companies was established in 1948 by Robert C.F. Ho, Doris’ Chinese father. The group and its subsidiaries are involved in ship owning, ship operations, ship management, manning, training and services built upon a global pool of human resources.

“Our company started as a shipping company,” begins Doris, unraveling a saga that combines history, geopolitics, business and romance. “My dad, who was from China, married my mom (Anita Magsaysay, a cousin of the late President Ramon Magsaysay) and ended up here (the Philippines) when China became communist. They met in the US when my mom was in New York for art school and my dad was in Columbia business school from Shanghai.”

“My mom was really going to go to China with him and that was something because in those days, people were aghast that she was going to China. And for my dad, they were saying, ‘Oh my God, you’re marrying a Filipina’!” But love prevailed, and so did the Philippines.

“China became communist and my dad had two ships. His father told him, don’t come back to China, we’re all running away already. Mom said, ‘Why don’t you just come to the Philippines?’ And he set up Magsaysay Lines.”

When Robert Ho met Anita Magsaysay, he said to her, “You have such a long name.” And she said to him, “Yours is awfully short.” But in the end, the business was named after her long name.

Robert Ho set up Magsaysay Lines on T.M. Kalaw in Manila, and the business flourished here and around the globe. “But as ship owners, we always trained our crew. We would hire professionals to train them. Then one day, my dad said, ‘You know, my friends in Europe and Japan are saying that their seafarers are getting old and maybe Asians should take over. Can we borrow your crew?’ I told my colleagues, ‘Why borrow? Let’s make it a business. Let’s build up the capacity of Filipino seafarers.”

Thus, over the years, the Magsaysay Group has been providing the world’s ships, cargo and passenger, with a substantial chunk of its crew.

“We source, we recruit, we train. We make sure they have all their visas. And then we rotate, because under the ILO (International Labor Organization) rule, no one can work more than 10 months,” Doris adds.

* * *

Last week, the Magsaysay Group and the Japanese shipping conglomerate Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) forged another milestone in their partnership with the opening of the state-of-the-art MOL Magsaysay Maritime Academy in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

The 13.7-hectare facility houses a ship-in campus, a student complex, an academic building and student dormitory, which aim to provide students with a real-life working environment.

“We’re training them to be No. 1, to eventually be captains,” says Doris proudly. At present, there are 300 students, and the school expects another 300 next year till the enrollment totals 1,000. Graduates get a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine or Maritime Engineering.

Doris says that though Filipinos in the past were captains mostly of Philippine ships only, they can now become skippers of foreign vessels.

A Magsaysay tanker. Photo from www.msl.com.ph

“The opportunity for our seafarer is to now rise to be captain. In other ships, it’s only now that their own national officers are retiring. So Filipinos are open to move up. But it’s hard if you’re always the No. 2 and you’re really a good No. 2, you follow. But now you have to train to be No. 1, to lead. It’s new territory,” Doris, who also draws and paints like her mother Anita, points out.

Doris says Filipinos make exceptional seafarers because, “They speak English, they love and like being in the sea, and are so globally adaptable.”

To add to this distinction, shipbuilding and ship repair in the Philippines is now the fourth largest in the world, though a far fourth.

“It can grow if strategically supported,” she believes. “The Philippine maritime industry can be a key driver for employment and development.”

* * *

When Doris first returned to the Philippines after years of living abroad, some people in the shipping industry thought she couldn’t run the business. “You’re not even Filipino!”

When she insisted she is, they asked, “What kind of name is that, ‘Ho’?” And she replied, “Ho is a Tagalog word that you say 20 times a day!”

When you see Doris in glamorous parties, you find it hard to reconcile her with the shipping industry.

The MOL Magsaysay Maritime Academy in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

“It used to be cool you know, during the time of Aristotle Onassis,” she laughs.

“But I’m loving the business, you have to love it, given that it is a tough business. And I think what’s really cool about this country — and I feel so privileged that I live here — there is so much you can do, if you have a vision for it. My dad would always wonder why I stay here. And he was saying that it’s a hardship post. But you know what I find here? What’s amazing even in this business is that there’s meaning. Fulfillment.”

Training the men and women who keep the world’s economy afloat, and helping the country she chose to be her home in the process — now that’s what keeps her going full steam ahead.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)