MARINER’S HOME GENERAL MANAGER MANUEL OTAYZA: Providing premium living spaces for seafarers in Manila

MARINER’S HOME GENERAL MANAGER MANUEL OTAYZA: Providing premium living spaces for seafarers in Manila
YASHIKA F. TORIB May 08, 2019 https://www.manilatimes.net/providing-premium-living-spaces-for-seafarer...

Metro Manila, for decades, has become the hub of most merchant marine agencies to include regulatory groups; manning; and shipping, training and assessment centers. This strategic location has proved effective for the centralized business traffic and processes of maritime executives that Filipino seafarers all across the country travel to and converge in to manage their shipboard contracts, training, certifications and assessments.

While some seafarers have had no problem with this set up, thousands of other seamen residing in distant island provinces find this routine difficult for the lack of safe and decent temporary living space.

With the establishment of Mariners’ Home in 2006, however, Filipino seafarers were finally provided with premium living spaces in Manila for less.

Such passion for providing the most basic needs of the seafarers fall in the hands of Manuel Nolet Otayza, general manager of the Mariners’ Home of the All Japan Seamen’s Union (AJSU), a group committed to improving the working conditions, social status and rights of its members. AJSU also has a long-standing collaboration with the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (Amosup) to promote and implement its missions. Both are affiliate members of the all powerful International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) the biggest Union in the world.

Mariners’ Home, according to Otayza was conceptualized by four parties — International Mariners’ Management Association of Japan (IMMAJ), Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council (PJMCC), AMOSUP, and AJSU.

“The late Amosup founder Capt. Gregorio Oca informed these parties that a lot of seafarers don’t have a place to stay while undergoing training or processing their shipboard contracts in Metro Manila. Our Japanese partners immediately saw the need for a living space and so they agreed to support the project,” Otayza said.

With the very first Mariners’ Home in Malate, Manila offering a mere 187-person capacity, a second transient home was built with up to 400 capacity. “We thought at the time that it is already enough but we still have hundreds more on our waiting list. That was when we’ve built the Mariners’ Home Annex 3, with over 500-person capacity.”

The third Mariners’ Home was seen to finally address the increasing demand for living spaces of seafarers in Manila. Otayza explained that attending to the most basic needs of Filipino seafarers became a sustained passion for their Japanese partners who were “very easy to talk to and very generous when it comes to providing for our seamen.”
Otayza brings to Mariners’ Home his years of experience in the hotel industry, particularly with the Victoria Group of Companies. “We specialize in clean and pleasant rooms and that’s what I have introduced with Mariners’ Home,” says Otayza, a graduate of De La Salle University with a degree in marketing and masters in management.

“I always make sure that our seafarers are well-attended to by our staff. I am very particular with customer satisfaction and we deliver this through quality services, amenities, and pleasant attitude.”

Accommodations in the Mariners’ Home are designed to look like ship cabins with bunks as beds. For a meager amount of P150, a seafarer or his family can lodge in these bunks, while suites only cost P 500 to P1,200.

“Seafarers, especially those who are members of Amosup, need only to show their Seaman’s Book or Amosup Membership ID to avail of these accommodations on top of our amenities to include a sports complex with basketball court, gym and swimming pool. We also have a maritime museum,” Otayza narrated.

Mariners’ Home also provides living spaces for up to three months or longer depending on the training schedules of the seafarers. “While there is no limit [to] the amount of time that we lease out our rooms, we still maintain that this is a transient home for seafarers, for those who have no place to stay here in Manila because they live permanently in the provinces. If we find out that the seafarer is already employed for a shore-based job here in Manila, that’s when we cease to provide spaces to prioritize those with transient living needs.”

Otayza disclosed that a fourth annex is now in works as the demand for more transient living spaces continues to increase, especially with the surge of new training and assessment requirements for seafarers prior to their shipboard deployment.

As Otayza untiringly sees to the needs of his seamen clientele from three annexes in Metro Manila, his staff would sometimes perceive him as a strict manager who constantly aims for best services and total customer satisfaction.

Nonetheless, his colleagues would enjoy his athletic side as he is fond of playing basketball, golf and bowling. His love for sport eventually led him to manage the Marinero Pilipino Basketball Team who made it to the semis in the 2017 and 2018 PBA D-League.