Capt. Levy B. Aguilo: From ship to shore

From ship to shore
Yashika F. Torib November 25, 2020 https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/11/25/business/maritime-business/from-s...

Twenty-seven years ago, Levy B. Aguilo, then a maritime deck cadet boarded his first voyage and discovered the grit behind the glamour of the uniformed maritime profession. Simulation scenarios turned to long days and sleepless nights of toil onboard a ship rolling on giant waves. He wondered if reality would have sparked his desire to become a seafarer as did the fascinating globe-trotting stories of his hometown neighbor.

Levy recalled that his neighbor had great stories of all the countries his ship had called port at. His seaman neighbor had bought a car and other nice things and his life improved a lot. Levy wanted the same things and told himself that someday, he would become a seafarer too.

Soon after finishing High School at St. Anthony’s College, he left his hometown, Sibalom in Antique to study BS Marine Transportation at the John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, now John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University (JBLFMU). A year after graduation, he was deployed for his very first shipboard duty and from then on, he took on the life of a hard-working seafarer.

The wrath of the sea and the prolonged isolation onboard a vessel did not dampen his spirit. His passion for the profession carried him through. After two decades, Levy, then a full-fledged ship captain, decided to hang his hat and returned to Antique. The aspirations of a leader took hold of his heart. — that of producing seafarers who would be more capable and competent than he was.

Long concealed by the Manila addresses of provincial seafaring applicants, Antique, a coastal province was in fact a long-time producer of Western Visayan seafarers who had sailed on to man global fleets. Sadly, it lacked maritime educational and training institutions that would support students who wish to enter the maritime profession, and professionals who wish to elevate their professional qualifications to serve the industry better. To obtain maritime education and training, Antiqueño seafarers had to move to other provinces or to the great Manila where the services they sought came at costs hard to bear. They also had to be separated from their families in Antique.

It was serendipitous that when Levy left the ship for shore, his Alma matter, St. Anthony’s College (SAC) was establishing its own maritime department with the programs, BS Marine Transportation and BS Marine Engineering. Fate had a way of calling things and people together. Levy eventually became part of the efforts to establish SAC’s maritime department, aptly starting as curriculum developer. He translated his shipboard experiences and professional expertise into the pedagogical methods of classroom instruction. The maritime programs of SAC formally opened in AY 2019-2020. Levy is now the Program Head of the SAC BS Marine Transportation program. For Levy, he was a vessel simply dropping anchor but remaining afloat by the port.

Levy’s dock had since become its own motivation for students aspiring to become seafarers. His contributions had helped SAC obtain its necessary government authorities to operate the BSMT and BSMarE, and recently had also helped SAC passed its recognition audit two years earlier than expected.

“I enjoy sharing my knowledge with my students. It gives me satisfaction knowing that I am helping develop a new generation of master mariners,” Levy now says with pride and contentment. “One of my challenges, however, is that I can only teach them for a short period of time until mandatory period of retirement. A few years is not enough in preparing them for the rigors of life at sea. Indeed, many of us seafarers learn these only when we start working on board a ship. I feel that the limited time I have here at school is inadequate to transfer everything I know about the sea and the ship. Right now, I just do the best I can while they are still under my tutelage,” he lamented.

Levy, like his fellow Maritime Education Faculty members is now in the deep of another new experience — that of instructing maritime students in the time of the COVID 19 pandemic. Everything is transitioning on-line, ever emphasizing the need to grip technology as a steering wheel, engine and propeller while charting new waters. The challenge is confronting not just students but educators as well. “All of our lectures, laboratory instructions, and assessments were moved online. Our teachers are making use of on-line platforms to deliver education and our laboratory equipment are made available to students individually on schedule, following strict health protocols even as Antique is declared under low risk modified general community quarantine,” Levy says.

Despite the challenges and limitations, Levy remains committed to his mission to impart the lessons of the sea to the younger generation of mariners. He shares this mission with the rest of the Maritime Education Faculty of SAC, and with Rev. Fr. Edione R. Febrero, JCL, the founding father of the SAC Maritime Education Department. Fr. Febrero himself comes from a family of seafarers. Levy says, the SAC maritime programs are a fitting homage to the great contribution of seafarers and the seafaring industry to the upliftment of many persons, families and communities in Antique. Challenges come but just as seasoned captains do, Levy merely squarely stands his board, steers his ship with strong determination, and weathers the storm with the grit of an old salt. But old is only for those who do not dream.