Tacloban City- National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) OIC Executive Director Manuel C. Roldan together with other key officials welcomed a group of Japanese guests on Saturday, 13 February 2016, at the NMP Training Complex, located at Brgy. Cabalawan, Tacloban City.

During the courtesy meeting, Director Roldan enlightened them of NMP's operations and stressed that while most training centers are found in Manila, NMP is strategically located in Tacloban to cater the training needs of seafarers coming from the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
He also provided updates on the agency's recovery efforts from the ruins of Typhoon Yolanda. He conveyed that despite the grant aid of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the upgrading of training simulators and other equipment and the allocation of funds from the government for the repair of buildings, the NMP still needs assistance to be able to restore other structures such as the Training Building Annex.

The guests are country representatives from the International Mariners Management Association of Japan-Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council, Inc. (IMMAJ-PJMCC). They were composed of Capt. Tsutomu Harada, Capt. Yasuteru Shigeta, Mr. Hisaya Higuchi, Mr. Shinsuke Ogura, Mr. Yutaka Kikuchi, Mr. Koichi Sakimura and IMMAJ-PJMCC Projects Consultant Mr. Wenifredo G. Sola.

The IMMAJ-PJMCC is an association of shipowners, ship managers and manning agencies of Japan whose goal is to advance the quality of Filipino seafarers particularly those working onboard Japanese ships.

Afterwards, Director Roldan led an on-site tour of facilities. The Japanese employers were impressed and contemplate on sending their seafarers to train at NMP.

The agency looks forward to this opportunity of expanding the reach of its maritime training programs and remains open to collaborations with the private sector, particularly with employers, who share the same interest in improving the qualifications of Filipino seafarers for their employment acceptability and enhanced competitiveness.

Meanwhile, as the only maritime training and research agency in the country, NMP continues to upgrade its facilities and provide maritime trainings required pursuant to the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Convention as amended in 2010. It also regularly conducts maritime studies to come up with policies for the improvement of the manpower sector of the industry.

The NMP encourages those interested to avail of its maritime training programs to visit the NMP facebook page (facebook.com\nmptrainingcenter) and website (www.nmp.gov.ph) where all related information on NMP trainings are available.