New Officials for MARINA’s STCW Office
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
MARITIME INDUSTRY AUTHORITY
PRESS RELEASE
07 March 2014
NEW OFFICIALS FOR MARINA’S STCW OFFICE
On February 10, 2014, President Benigno Aquino III has appointed Atty. Alvin A. Tormon and Atty. Jabeth Sena Jepath A. Dacanay as Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director, respectively to spearhead the Standards on Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Office (STCWO) of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA). They took their Oath of Office before the Honorable Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, Secretary, Department of Transportation and Communications on March 7, 2014.
MARINA Administrator Mejia welcomes the appointment of Tormon and Dacanay as very timely and auspicious, fitting for the Agency which is at the helm in ensuring RP’s full compliance to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention, 1978, as amended.
Tormon, a ship master on oil/chemical tankers, a practicing attorney specializing in criminal and admiralty law, and a lifelong educator of tens of thousands of Filipinos, is the youngest-ever recipient of the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award of the United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association at Kings Point, New York – an institution where he graduated number one in his class in B.S. Marine Transportation, Magna Cum Laude, in 1995. Despite coming from a poor family, he consistently graduated Valedictorian from Pre-School to Grade School and High School. In the U.S. Coast Guard license exam for Third Mate, he received the highest scores, with 100% in both Navigation and Collision Regulations. He continued to top the PRC license exams for Second Mate, Chief Mate and Master Mariner, and served in that noteworthy position at a very young age. He was one of the top graduates of the University of the Philippines – College of Law, with a degree of Juris Doctor. He also received his Doctorates in Business Administration and in Human Resource Management, and is currently completing his Doctorate in Public Administration. He is a lifetime member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and a professor of Admiralty and Maritime Law, Strategic Management and business subjects both at PMMA Graduate School and MAAP Center for Advanced Maritime Studies. He has been a trainer and assessor of Filipino seafarers for nearly two decades, and was a participant in the STCW 2010 Conference. In his spare time, Tor helps poor, innocent prisoners regain their freedom and enjoys sending ugly criminals to prison. He strongly believes that we Filipinos, by talking less, thinking faster, doing more, and walking the “Daang Matuwid” can be a great nation of true winners in the near future.
Dacanay, on the other hand, is the current Chief-of-Staff of MARINA. She is about to finish her PhD in Social Sciences at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. She served as legal adviser at London-based Seafarers’ Rights International in 2010, which serves as a center dedicated to research, education and training in the law concerning the advancement of seafarers’ rights and legal protection around the world. Before embarking on her doctoral study, Atty. Dacanay headed the Maritime Legal Affairs Office of MARINA. She obtained her Master of Science degree in maritime affairs, with specialization in maritime administration, from the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden, in 2003, under the Nippon Foundation Sasakawa Fellowship Programme. She finished her law at Far Eastern University Institute of Law in 1997 graduated cum laude, and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998. Her ultimate dream is to represent the causes of seafarers in every available forum with the end in view of promoting and protecting their rights and welfare.
MARINA, MARITIME PHILIPPINES, We Move the World.
The Maritime Industry Authority is an attached agency of the Department of Transportation and Communications tasked to accelerate the integrated development of the maritime industry in the country. It has been implementing reforms and programs to transform the country’s domestic shipping industry to global competitiveness and the MARINA into a premiere maritime administration in Southeast Asia. For more information, visit marina.gov.ph.
