Marina explains delays in applications for Seafarer Identity Document

Marina explains delays in applications for SID
October 26, 2022 https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/10/26/business/maritime/marina-explains...

THE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has admitted to problems in the production of the Seafarer Identity Document (SID), resulting in some delays recently in the processing and issuance of the internationally accepted identification document for seafarers.

Marina Deputy Administrator for Planning (DAP) Sonia Malaluan admitted this in public when she was invited by Marino Partylist Rep. Sandro Gonzales in his Facebook Live program recently where the Marina official disclosed the root cause of the delays in the application for SID, which are beyond the agency's control.

DAP Malaluan, who was joined in the program by Marina STCW Office Acting Executive Director Samuel Batalla, acknowledged that seafarers nowadays have to wait for one or two months in applying for their SIDs.

"Mayroon po tayong queuing sa pag-apply ng Seafarer Identity Document or SID. Una, dahil po sa kakulangan sa budget; pangalawa, matagal po ang production dulot ng conflict sa Ukraine at Russia," he said.

Malaluan, however, divulged that, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Marina was already experiencing a lack of chips used in the production of SID due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Bago pa po ang conflict sa Ukraine, mayroon na po tayong kakulangan sa supply ng mga chips, dahil sa Covid. Mase-search nyo po iyan sa internet na since 2020 pa lang mayroon nang shortage of chips," she said during the interview.

Malaluan informed the party-list lawmaker that the SID cards are using machine-readable chips where the data of the seafarer-holder of the card are securely stored. "Ang ating SID ay mayroong chip na kasi po ginagamitan natin ng facial biometrics na sa chip lang pwedeng ma-store," she explained.

This feature of the SID, she added, is following the requirements of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention, highlighting the fact that "we are the first and the only country at the moment to comply with that requirement of the ILO Convention 185 [or the SID Convention]."

"Kaya medyo high-tech, mataas ang security [requirement] kaya kailangan po natin ang chips and other security features pero despite mayroon konting pila mga one or two months bago makapag-apply sinisigurado ng Marina na wala naman pong seafarer o marino na mawawalan ng trabaho dahil hindi nakakuha ng SID."

She further assured seafarers: "We have expedite processing; kapag kailagang-kailangan talaga ng seafarer, nauuna po silang binibigyan. Kumbaga prioritization lang po."

Malaluan compared Marina's situation with the Department of Foreign Affairs, in the case of recent problems over passports. "Similar to what happened to our passports, kailangang pumila kasi nga ang supply at capacity, medyo may prioritization po."