CHED to fight TRO on deficient maritime courses' closure

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has expressed alarm over the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by a Quezon City regional trial court (QC RTC) judge on the closure of “non-compliant” BS Marine Transportation (BSMT) and BS Marine Engineering (BSMarE) courses of the PMI Colleges.

Patricia Licuanan, CHED chairperson, said that the commission would seek all legal remedies to nullify the TRO.

QC RTC Branch 105 Judge Rosa Samson issued a TRO against the CHED closure order in an eight-page order issued last Jan. 30.

Samson said PMI was not given the opportunity to be heard when CHED changed the effectivity of the closure orders from the first semester of academic year 2012-2013 to the second semester of academic year 2011-2012, in violation of the Manual of Regulations for Private Higher Education.

Samson said she was not convinced that the continuation of the programs even only up to second semester of 2011-2012 would exclude the Philippines from the list of countries complying with the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention.

Last May, the European Maritime Safety Agency of the European Union had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the Philippines was no longer compliant with the SCTW Convention.

“Corrective action was therefore directed by the Office of the President and the DFA to CHED and DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) to prevent unquantifiable damage to the country’s maritime industry a huge earner for Filipino seafarers,” CHED said in a statement issued last year to explain its move against PMI Colleges.