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A House bill seeking to set up a ship registry system in the Philippines and establish the country as a leading maritime nation and respected flag-state has gained support from government agencies, shipping and maritime groups
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HB No. 4336 aims to establish the scope and procedure for the Philippine ship registry
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MARINA said the bill’s proposed new structure unifying the registration and licensing system of overseas and domestic fleets will “give our domestic shipowners the opportunity to embark on overseas shipping and service the transport requirements of our import and export trade”
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A technical working group will be created to tackle HB 4336 and the written positions that will be sent by the involved government agencies and stakeholder groups
A House bill that seeks to set up a Philippine ship registry system gained support from various government agencies and maritime groups.
HB No. 4336, authored by Ilocos Norte 2nd District representative Angelo Barba, lays out the scope and procedures for the Philippine ship registry; provides the legal framework for rules on ship registry and enforcement of maritime claims and limitations of liability; and provides incentives to vessels under the Philippine registry.
In a speech during a recent Lower House Committee on Transportation hearing on the bill, Barba said the measure intends to develop the maritime industry through compliance with international maritime conventions’ regulations and practices and turn the country into one of the leading and respected flag states.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and its attached agencies, Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG); Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Trade and Industry-Board of Investments, and Insurance Commission supported the passage of HB 4336 during the hearing.
Also lending support were the Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association, Philippine Coastwise Shipping Association, Philippine Liner Shipping Association, and Association of International Shipping Lines.
The Department of Finance and its attached agencies, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs, and Tax Research Center, will soon submit their position papers on the bill.
DOTr officer-in-charge director of legal service, Reinier Paul Yebra, said during the hearing that the department fully supports passage of the bill, but has proposed the inclusion of PCG as a key implementing agency in maritime safety investigation and as an agency to whom any incident involving Philippine ship registry must be reported to.
MARINA Legal Service director Sharon Aledo, for her part, said the bill’s proposed new structure unifying the registration and licensing system of overseas and domestic fleets will “give our domestic shipowners the opportunity to embark into overseas shipping and service the transport requirements of our import and export trades.”
She added that the proposed restructuring and updating of the process of ship registry will establish and enforce MARINA’s control over Philippine-flagged ships.
Aledo said the existing law on ship registration found in Republic Act No. 1937 (also Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines) came into effect in 1957 and limits the law’s scope to the registration of ships plying the domestic trade.
Presidential Decree 474 and Executive Order Nos. 125 and 125-A, meanwhile, granted MARINA the authority to register domestic and overseas ships but they do not meet the conditions for the grant of nationality to ships and the establishment of the genuine link as required by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of The Sea (UNCLOS), to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Aledo said MARINA wants the bill passed as it will result in a strong and competitive merchant marine fleet owned and controlled by Filipinos or corporate entities established in the Philippines and manned by qualified officers and crew.
In MARINA’s view, she said, “the expansion of the Philippine ship registry can be better realized if there is a legal framework that will encourage shipowners to enter into long-term vessel acquisition, development and modernization programs, and that will facilitate a simplified method of foreign shipowners hiring Filipino crew to consider the Philippine registry as a competitive and attractive registry for their ships.”
The Insurance Commission said it supports the intention of the bill and, in particular, deems its provision on limit on liability consistent with existing practices.
PISA executive director Pedro Aguilar said the group is still collating inputs from members but lauds the filing of the bill and supports any move to establish a Philippine ship registry. Aguilar said PISA in particular lauds the introduction of tonnage tax in lieu of income tax, and the inclusion of limitation on liability, and maritime liens and encumbrances, but noted that the bill can still be improved to make the Philippine registry more attractive.
AISL president Patrick Ronas, meanwhile, said once the bill is adopted into law, it is government’s task–upon the drafting of implementing rules and regulations–to ensure procedures for ship registry are simple, easy to follow, and devoid of tedious and complex documentary requirements.
Capt. Gaudencio Morales, president of Filipino Association for Mariners’ Employment, said his group is still reviewing the measure. Morales noted, however, that in other registries, there is no minimum tonnage requirement while HB 4336 has a requirement of 500 gross tons or more. He also proposed a budget especially for digitalization with almost all other ship registries having digitalized their ship registration process to ensure efficiency.
The committee hearing on HB 4336 concluded with the motion to create a technical working group that will further tackle the proposed measure and the written positions that will be sent by concerned government agencies and stakeholder organizations.
READ: Bills establishing PH ship registry refiled
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara also filed Senate Bill No. 902, the Senate version of HB 4336, which also seeks to create a Philippine ship registry system.
In both bills, MARINA will be the implementing agency and will form the secretariat to support the implementation of the proposed measure.
MARINA will maintain the ship registry, which will comprise the Register of Ships and the Record of Ship Mortgages and Encumbrances. There will be one registry for all ships flying the Philippine flag.
Similar bills were filed in the Lower House in previous Congresses. The version filed in the 17th Congress was approved on third and final reading in 2019. Similar bills filed in both the Senate and Lower House of the 18th Congress, meanwhile, went pending in the committee level. – Roumina Pablo
