MAIN OBJECTIVES FIRST

Waiting my dental check up and lab in the clinic

Career Ship management doesn’t really want to waste time eh ?! , Cant imagine I am now being rushed by career to complete the necessary requirements as soon as possible and that they said according from what I heard on the medical department that I will be deployed soon.  Well I hope not that soon cause I still have a lot of administrative things to do.

Anyway when I arrived , I immediately arrived to the medical booth to check and see what's the deal with the medical slip. I was informed to photocopy a few documents and go back and report to the reporting booth. Went outside since there's no photocopy machine inside career ship management . Photocopied my 1st and 2nd page of my Seaman's book along with the 1st page of my passport and SRC card (Seafarer's Registration Card). After the Photo copy I went and proceeded to the reporting booth and was told to go back in the medical booth.

When I went I gave her my Yellow Fever Card and there I was given the medical slip and a sets of forms namely its called an "allotment" form, which basically tells who's is going to received my salary assuming that I get work  onboard a ship. She said that when passed The medical (If I passed) . I had to pass these forms back along with the  with another Typhoid fever yellow card.  She added also that my Medical Pre employment exam will be on the 27th of march 2013, and the results will be given by April 1st, 2013. I was order to call them back on the number she wrote on my medical slip.

The clinic site 

Immediately after I was finished with the medical , I Immediately sent an SMS to my sister informing her that I might need her help in regards to this since there are some parts in the medical that might have some cost like for example the Typhoid Fever Yellow Card which cost around 900 PHP . Overall my general assumption is that the medical bill might go beyond the 1,000 PHP, That's why I needed my sisters help on it. 

Few minutes ago while writing this part on my journal, I was briefly interrupted by a phone call from my cell phone coming from career. To my dismay on the phone call conversation , I was informed that there is a possible that I might leave the country in a rush basis be deployed by next month (April) in Dale which is the name of the joining port.  They told me to report to the office by tomorrow - right after my medical exam and proceed the visa booth for my endorsement on the Visa application.

Example of a "Yello Card" Vaccine, My Card by the way

 Unfortunately for me I haven't even started yet on the medical exam , and Its not even sure if I would pass the medical, I  told them that I'm still in the medical phase yet. They said that its urgent and I can proceed immediately after the medical. Personally I really hate this all-rush-of-a-sudden- method and it doesn’t work out for me that well , Why the fuck would they rush me ? I hate being rushed like this !. I haven’t even settled yet on the allottement form yet. Really frustrates me on this method, worse nobody in career even bothered to tell me about my deployment date which was April , they just one day said I'm going to be in dale by April. BOOM !! As simple as that. Got already too much things to attend with here and too little available resources and money to attend them all.

I remember an old Chinese proverb incidentally , it says "Rashness brings fortune to some , but misfortune to many" . 

The following day….

Set everything needed on my bad and even bought the extra cash needed for my medical exam at Maritime Medical and Laboratory Clinic, Inc . As usual I woke up early and got dress and took a public jeepney to the train station going to the main manila.

Minor Rain brought a huge puddle in the office

Came in very early n the clinic at about 6.30Am and basically it was still closed at that time, had to wait an hour, before it opens. We lined in a single file and I almost got lost to the "follow up" department instead going to the "new applicants" department. Nearly also got rejected from getting the medical exam because I don’t have any government issued I.D.'s , Good thing I was able to remember that I got an NBI certificate with me which I managed to get by a month ago.

My Medical Form in the clinic 

Alright everybody DropZone is 300 meters , line up single file :D

Went through 5 stages of medical screen in the clinic, First was of course the Laboratory which they had to extract blood from my arm. The med tech wasn't that good in extracting my blood and she had been drawing my blood for more than 3 minutes, It was excruciatingly painful having a needle stuck on my arm.  After that I proceeded to other stages, there was no problem as far I recall on the other stages of the medical examination. Just walked it by like without any problems. For the medical the only problem I could see is the dental which I might require repairing a small hole on the font of my teeth and the Typhoid fever vaccine which I haven't took yet..

So what I can say about Maritime Medical and laboratory clinic ? Well its not that sophisticated as the one I had in Physicians, but I guess this is enough to screen out sailors for their medical. One thing I had about Maritime Medical is their receptionist staff which I find very rude for my taste ( not the nurses of med techs).After finishing the medical ,l received an SMS message from career informing me about reporting back to the office and give my certificates to the NAC TESDA booth on career to have it scanned. Since I decided that I had plenty of time and its just noon. I decided to stop by pay career a little visit, Unfortunately I regretted the decision later on as it brought me more expenses and another set of objectives.

Went to the UN LRTA train station and got a train then dropped off to Edsa station , then afterwards walked northward a kilometer or two , all the way till I reached Evangelista Makati, As usual I stayed in McDonalds for about 30 minutes to cool off from the air con and change my shirt. After that I entered the Career Ship management office

When I arrived I was told to photo copy all my documents yet again (training certificates to be specific) and give the copies to the TESDA NAC booth, after going to the trouble of bring the photo copies. My documents was reviewed and said that three of my certificates have expired already and these are SHIP SECURITY AWARENESS, PADAMS, and INTERNATIONAL SAFETY MANAGEMENT CODE.  Aside from that I was given another 3 sets of minor objectives , apparently the TESDA NAC boot said I should accomplish some sort of CAV certificate from  TESDA office which is unfortunately far off in Taguig area in Manila (farther south). Another object she said was this so called Office seminars which I could accomplish within a few days , there are four and I think I can handle it. The third object is that I had to take 3 computer exams today and pass them, the receptionist on the TESDA NAC Booth said I should go to the fourth floor and see Captain Ledesma.

Medical slip that came from career

After seeing Captain Ledesma which informed me about my upcoming office training seminars, He told me that I should go down to the third floor to take the computer exam. In the room I just gave my 3 index cards given by Captain Ledesma and the staff there assisted me on the room, I took the CES 4.1 computer exam along with another computer exam called MARLINS and the last is Marine English. Funny thing though that my scores in English proficiency exams was 89 percent and based on the breakdown the English reading is perfect 100 percent while my listening skills was 90 percent accuracy. I guess all that call center trainings years ago really paid off. I did pass the CES deck support exam though it was only border limits. I went back to Captain ledesma and said that my next objective will be attended classes on April 2 and 3 and then again on April 5. He said call it a day and be back on the said date.

Cant really imagine that I'd be doing this ever in my life and in career, Imagine I took the whole medical screening enchilada in the morning and walked at noon ,then took a few paper works and even took a computer exam in the afternoon. Career really knows how to push the Filipino potential into limits,  I'm dead tired from the medical and still went to career and not only to finished it but pass the exam.

Finished the objective at about 5:30 and went home and took a bus. Unfortunately traffic got very heavy and it took me two hours to reach cubao area. For now I'd take advantage of the holiday to reassemble the needed finances for my agenda for the whole week. Looks like I'm going to be in a hell of a ride this coming April, Hope that my finances are stable enough to take the punishment.

For now I should not pay attention on this company lecture seminars and such , what I need to stay focus is on how to get the U.S. Visa. That objective is crucial in determining my place and the overall course of this campaign in career and this is the only thing I should care about until I have that Visa stamped to my passport. Should take note that I'm pressured in both time and resources, If I don’t secure this then my adventures in career wont be worth a set of thermal underwear in Kalaw street at high noon. I'd be dead fired from the job and even pay career for the expenses. I don’t want that to happen , and I have to go to it.

Walking my way in marikina riverside , clean fresh air and temp is much cooler than manila

BREAKTHROUGH

The newly replaced MiniTablet

Feeling so much better now that I got a new Kata Mini tablet. Now I can refit it again on all the data that got lost on my previous Kata Mini Tablet, Anyway the main purpose of this equipment acts as like a "rugged" tablet , for the get go.

Inexpensive and could be used on harsh environment, The specs of this tablet I got isn't much to look at with only android 2.3 as an operating system and the graphics lacks the features compared to tablets that have Android 4.0. However what I do like about this device is that it’s more of cross between a PDA and a "PMP"  (portable media player) and its sheer portability and size which is very small. I get to use this device when I'm simply just browsing for my Face book account and twitter, checking emails, upcoming schedules, things to do and stuff, or watching a favourite movie while on the go. Mostly business related stuff, not the flashy bombastic graphics kind of thing.

Anyway , After suffering from numerous delays of reporting back to career. I am going back again to find some answers , after all my application form on this company is on their desk last November 2012 and up to now is still pending. I need to find some answers and face MR. Ho yet again and see what is the actual status of my job application there. As what I said its doesn't matter if I get accepted or not , just only need to find out if there interested in me , if not then I could look for a job somewhere else and tell Captain Nick Betts that I was turned down.

Already suffered two delays and cant afford to make another one, First delay was when I was already in the career office building when some smart ass friend of mine distracted me on the phone, therefore missing out the queue. Second Delay was due to health reasons where I suffered a muscle spasm in the neck (stiff neck ) a few hours before leaving my home.

Walking from Ayala to Evangelista, Fucking bus drivers

Beautiful fountain underneath the highway

I went on with the same tactics as I did before, I rode the bus doing to Evangelista area in Makati, Unfortunately I never seemed to get it right when it comes to riding buses as I rode the bus going only to Ayala area. In other words the bus dropped me off a kilometer short of my intended area. Honestly I have no idea why bus drivers and conductors avoid or even refuse to drop me off in Evangelista area, It’s a good thing though that there was enough time for me, by the time I reached the McDonalds' fast-food store just besides the career office and still have a spare hour to rest and change my clothes.

2pm went by and Career office was open, I  Passed the queue slip , waited for about an hour or so then my name was called. To my surprise Mr. Ho wasn't around and Captain Nidoy was at the desk of Mr. HO .There were the two other people aside from me on that room. The two others were simply screened out and turned down by Captain Nidoy saying that there not the kind of people career is looking for.

By the time he mentioned my name I was puzzled when he said that career is looking for me, he added that I should follow him to the next room. So I went and he spoke to this person, The person said to Captain Nidoy that he needs my application form and Captain Betts has already sent an email to him informing about this.

My only black shoes, badly worn out .

Personally this person is an enigma to me, He seems to be a much more higher position and that both Captain Nidoy and Mr. Ho are only his subordinates. His persona on my first impression is quite menacing and is somewhat similar to Captain Peralta in Sea cap shipping.

Anyway going back , we went to Mr. Ho's office again and I was instructed by captain Nidoy to get my application form in the piles of papers on the other desk. By the time I got it and presented it to Captain Nidoy, He asked me simple questions about PPE (personal protective equipment) , ISPS , ISM . Few non important things. Then after wards we went back again on this person office and presented my application, Captain Nidoy told me to wait a few minutes until my name will be called. Incidentally when i looked on my profile , to my horror i saw my records there in Sea cap Shipping. Most probably they had a a background check.

While i was waiting , I saw Mr.Ho passed by and he noticed . Somehow his look on me is , quite menacing as if he wants to strangle me to death,You can obviously see in his eyes the looks that he really hates me , Well the feeling is mutual and i don't like him either. 

After a few minutes I was called by this person and was interviewed , he only asked me a couple of question. Basically I didn't  paid any attention to it but the part that caught my ear was something about the U.S. Visa Part and the medical part.

Apparently from what I heard is that its *IMPERATIVE* that I secured a U.S. Visa and that failure to get one will result in me being charged on the said Application fee from the US embassy plus an additional payment for the medical fee and something about a "Contract fee" and the worst part is being permanently kicked out of career since he said that all their principals (ship owners) require their crew to have one (well don’t they all??). It was clear that this person said to me that the risk is very huge, and if I have already made up my mind about it,

Blindly I said "yes" , without even thinking for a second and added that "every situation has its own risk", I know this was a stupid answer and could have wisely said "I'd think about it " but it hit my mind that Captain Betts would look very bad if I said that. The person said "Well if that’s what you want then lets proceed" , He told me extra details about my situation that I have to pass first the medical screening and after that he said that I should come back and see him again and we will discuss about my endorsement to apply for a U.S. Visa. He said that my next step now is to get a pre employment medical slip to the medical booth, wait there till my name got called.

It was already at about 6pm and my name wasn’t called yet, I told the staff that id come back for my medical slip on a latter date since I'm not in a hurry at all.

Took the bus going to cubao at about 6:20pm and then went I reached cubao, I took the jeepney and headed home.

Clothes and style of typical filipino sailors, they usually have the same outfit. stereotypical right ????

Usual clothes worn by typical filipino sailors, not much of a variety when it comes to fashion compared to call center agents 

My outfit in the call center :) big difference right ???

In this video is the actual recording of the what happened , good thing i was wearing a Spy pen camera

Overall i have now two new objectives , One is pass the medical and the second is secure a U.S. Visa. It is IMPERATIVE  that i accomplish this and Failure to do so will result in not only in being kicked out in career but also the whiplash of paying everything that they will sponsor on me

SELLING YOUR SOUL TO THE DEVIL

Frankly this isn’t the first time that this situation has happened to me, during my years in Sea Cap this has been also a big issue. The only difference is that a U.S. Visa is involved and that If I screwed up with this , then immediately disaster is next to follow plus the extra worry of being kicked out.

I find it a big burden to be getting a U.S. Visa at all and I don’t see any point why I should get one at all. It's definitely just a waste of money and effort and that I could still work as a sailor without having one. Plus if ever I could get one this could only mean that whenever I would join ship on any U.S. ports , customs will ultimately search my belongings (including files on my computer), looking for any contraband material.

Having a U.S. Visa if more of a curse rather than a gift for me

On the bright side of having a U.S. Visa, Since I'm a "rating" on my current status , it will serve as an Unofficial working license on my behalf and will definitely be easier for me to be able to "jump" from one company to another having one, and to add more companies will think twice refusing my application if I have a U.S. Visa around and it’s a big upgrade from my career and my sailing career will be ultimately stabilized. 

From what Career has described to me , it seems that I don’t have any other choice but to get one. Yeah I'd get one though I'm reluctant to have a U.S. Visa around. 

DOG DAYS

Mr. Ho's office from afar, Boy id love to piss on his office and take a dump on his chair while I'm at it . 

First off NBI was a bit difficult to get by and had to wake up 1am in the morning just to get it. Second Mini quest is getting my Seaman's book renewed on Marina , thankfully I didn’t have to wake up early , just have to wait a week before it got released. Tsk !

Few hours before I would go to Career , I took a recap and checked all the equipment (and stuff) that id had to bring, checked the Polo shirt , charged the Spy Pen Camera and triple checked the documents and such. I even had with me the motion sickness plastic bag in my backpack just incase.

From this angle, Career isn't crowded as it was

Also I had even had a haircut, Unfortunately to my dismay I look way better having a long hair than the standard 3x4 short hair imposed by Career Shipping. Had to deliberately make myself ugly on this hair cut just to get in and avoid attention from psychopath sailors. (Honestly I envy the land based jobs like the call center on this kind of freedom, In there it’s a must that I looked fashionable like a commercial model or something close to it)

By the time I got there my agenda was derailed unexpectedly on unfortunate circumstances and had to come back the next day due to unforeseen personal issues. I was not exactly sure whether or not my name was called in the queue because of the distraction I had on the phone, by the time I knew it, the clock was already close to 6pm.

Favorite Hiding place before going to career , McDonalds

So I went home empty handed yet again, I don’t exactly mind that kind of situation and got used to it in the maritime industry (this happens a lot) .Main Problem is that I get stressed out on the transportation and that Career shipping is far flung from my home, I had to endure the rigors on travelling via bus (which motion sickness ,kicks in) and

Unfortunately just to add more of the stress, buses in EDSA felt like I'm riding world war 2 C-47 planes. They're obviously clunky, vibrate a lot ! and when your "dropping off" on the assigned bus station , passengers literary had to line up - single file and one by one drop off while the bus slows down (TAKE NOTE !!! SLOWS DOWN NOT STOPPING), Probably the fucking bus driver might think were paratroopers from world war 2.

Glass View of Kata repaire center Booth in SM Marikina, I hope they fix my Mini Tab soon 

My MiniTablet going into endlessly reformatting itself over and over again in an endless limbo,

A PLACE OF OUR OWN

Another Busy day for MARINA office in releasing SIRB'S

As what was included on the receipt of my order for my seaman's book , I had to go back to marina office and claim it there on March 11th.

As usual I prepared my usual things again for the visit in the old manila, quite frankly I'm always reluctant to go there given that the city is heavily polluted and had quite a number of times ended up going home having allergic fever by just visiting the place. Manila for me is a dusty old smelly city, with a lot of thugs and thieves . I only go there for business reasons - no more, no less. Living in Marikina is way better than manila.

Anyway going back , I'm in not in rush this time to get my Seaman's book. Took the LRTA-2 train going to Recto manila and rode a jeep heading to Kalaw Street in Manila, and got off there. As usual Kalaw Street is still filled with hundreds of unemployed sailors hanging out in that area, doing the same usual stuff they always do.

checking if all the details are correct

Getting the Seaman's book wasn't that hard at all, I just dropped the receipt on the small carton box located in front on the booth and wait a few minutes and My name was called in the queue , afterwards the person on the booth advised me to check all the details if it was correct or not then return it to him afterwards. I took the new Seaman's book along with the green application form and checked every detail if there's something wrong.  Everything checked out fine and I returned it, a few minutes came by and my name is called back again and this time my Seaman's is definitely mine now.

There is some subtle changes on the 2013 Philippine Seaman's Book ,as I noticed it’s a bit shinier and less bulky compared to my previous one. The letter imprints are more sharper and the front cover lettering is a bit larger now. Overall its still looks like a passport with only subtle changes.

The Comparison , left side is the new seaman's book of 2013, middle is the passport and right side is the previous Seaman's book circa 2009

The inside pages of the new Seaman's Book , Left is the previous one (2009) and right side is the New one (2013) 

As viewed the front page is a Bit slimmer and Shinier, left is the new one and right side is the previous one, on the upper left side of the new one you can see the color blue stick , Honestly i think its a chip of some sort like the ones inside the a Philippine passport, the blue sticker has a registration code were you can verify on the online website of marina

Hurriedly went out in MARINA office and went to KALAW street to check a few stuff and see how life is going there, well as usual I found nothing interesting and decided that I should try SM Manila Mall for a change. By the time I got there I didn’t realized that SM Manila was a busy place , more busier than any other SM Malls that I had visited. There were hordes of people going in and out of the area , and its so busy that I could probably drop off the entire volume of SM Marikina folks there and nobody would have ever noticed.

Went to the top most level of the mall and saw three particular things , One is an OFW Center (more like an OFW Café) , a Department of Foreign Affairs Office ( for folks who want to get a Philippine Passport) and a Seafarer's Center (Supposedly backed by "ANGKLA" Political Party) . Obviously the thing that caught my attention was the latter,

Well I was greeted by a receptionist when I came in to take a look and said that there was an ongoing "JOB FAIR" for sailors but when I turned my head around a few inches I saw nothing but a dead place, I told the receptionist that I'm not interested in looking for a job and I'm only here to take a look. The receptionist let me in.

Logo reminds me of a "Cherry Mobile" phone , Funny XD

As I said the place has no life and only less than 30 people are inside of it, I saw a few booths but the it only says that the job openings are only for Ship officers (Licensed Sailor's) and not for ratings. Well I'm not interested in looking for a job as a sailor anyway, and there's nothing much to look at on the place and Kalaw Street is a much livelier place compared to this one.  The only difference is that this so called "Seafarers Center" is much more comfy given it has air conditioning.  Truly though Kalaw is an inferior version of a hangout place , it is still iconic and definitely a place of our own sailors.

I took a few pictures and left the place.

Decided to go home and took the LRTA-2 and rode a public jeepney to my house.

Click this and take a closer look on the job openings on the screen , It definitely says that they ONLY NEED OFFICERS NOT RATINGS, if your rating then don't bother wasting time, effort and you piece of application form

See what i mean ?!!! the place is as dead as a ghost town, be better off in Kalaw street , Though this place is a bit classy and comfortable rather than in Kalaw

MARINA AFTER FOUR YEARS

Ran across Captain Betts in Face book, and is asking on what happened on my situation. I told him  that everything is going fine though there is little progress made and they gave no such detail over what date will exactly I join, for now the only detail I could give Capt. Betts is that I'm currently renewing my Seaman's Book and that’s about it. He mentions something about "Dale", though I'm not exactly sure if this is a name of the ship or a name of the "joining port"

Anyway I'd be reporting to career shipping as soon as I sort this seaman's book  first , and see what happens next. God !!! Really hate going back again and talk again to Mr. Ho .

Monday March 04 2013  …..

Already done with the stuff I need to bring for the renewal of my Seaman's book , had with me NBI clearance (check) , My old BST certificate (check) , Old SIRB (check), Some passport size pictures (check) , and of course some money (TRIPLE check).  Had it all pack on my old back pack bag.

Step 1 Fill out the form, Yeah cocksure !!

Same old strategy as what I did last time , Unfortunately I barely remember it anymore since it was last four years ago. The Hint I knew is that I should come early and that the rules in renewing a Philippine Seaman's Book is the same rules applied on getting an NBI. The only difference is the place where I would eventually get it.

Went early and it was about a quarter to 7am in the morning when I got to the MARINA office in the corner of TM Kalaw Street, and as expected the people in the queue line  was way less than it was with the NBI Clearance , As in 80 percent less. Had no trouble in getting a number and the queue ticket number I got was "58" after that, then I went to the usual steps in filling out the form and going to the waiting area.

Last step ID picture, Get me out of this chicken shit outfit!!

While waiting I got to talk with a 3rd engineer coming from some PSTC company in ermita building, I learned from him that renewing a seaman's book now takes 15 days before being released and that most (if not all )companies now require more than at least 14 months and up validity (for a seaman's book, and in my case Career requires me to have at least 18 months validity.)  

HELL !!! 15 days ??? , why the fuck would marina delay issuance of it , I mean it happened before that they could issue SIRB's in a few hours to sailors, Why the cock's name would they be delaying it ???  Really frustrating on my end since I'm in a bit of a hurry ,Yes patience would be nice but I don’t have a lot of time and it would be easier if M.A.R.I.N.A. would go back on its old system especially if Career Shipping is a bit of rushing me. Marina !! Bah! department of cocksuckers !!!

Near about 10am when I was called to the Evaluators desk and she immediately check my documents and see if everything is in order, Bad part is that I didn’t knew that they only needed the xerox copy of the NBI clearance and I had to go back to the Xerox machine located outside and had it photocopied. Good thing thought the Evaluator wasn't that bitchy to me compared to the other sailors she handled before and after passing my photocopy, I was told to hand out 25 PHP for documentary stamps and off I go the next step. Next step was of course the payment and I just handed showed off my application paper and handed out the 800 PHP and off I go again, This time I had to go back again on the booth to get my 200 PHP back (I handed out 1000 PHP ) I forgot my change - my bad with this one.

Last part of the step is the "image capture" ( ID mug shot Picture taking for short) , and had to pay another 25 PHP for rent on the White Polo shirt that will used for the ID. Afterwards I was handed out a small slip of paper indicating that the release of my Seaman's book will be on the 11th of March. Ok march 11th got it !! After that back again to Career and see how it goes there.

Outside I decided to stop over in Kalaw street and see how are things doing there for sailors , well Kalaw street isn't exactly as lively as it was during Mayor Atienza's time. I still see a few hundred sailors all pack up and standing and just simply hanging out. I saw a huge yellow poster there of "ANGKLA" hanging (some about a sort of political party for sailors) and the usual Deck Cadets carrying small placards with information saying that they need this kind of crew blah blah, on their company and so. I decided to stop by and check if there is this little newspaper publication being sold in kalaw several years ago called "Tinig ng Marino" (Voice of a mariner) by Nelson Ramirez, Apparently I found none.

After my very brief visit I took the LRTA -2 train and went to SM Marikina mall and Robinsons Mall to buy a few clothes and hang out. I bought a set of semi formal clothes (white polo shirt and black formal trousers ) from chancellor boutique and a set of casual clothes from Bench (Red Colored Polo T-shirt and Denim Pants). A new Case Logic Backpack and a small pouch for my KATA Mini Tablet. 

SM Marikina , Picture taken from the connecting over pass

White Polo Shirt From chancellor , I think this clothes will be handy someday

Yum Yum hahaha , childish of me but yeah sometimes junk food is a necessity :-)

The Set of formal Clothes i bought from chancellor , pretty typical right ???

The Red Polo T-Shirt and Denim Pants i bought at Bench for my civilian summer outfit, cute right ?? 

I guess I just needed a few upgrades again for the civilian clothes and besides that I technical don’t have clothes meant for warm summer weather. Wouldn't hurt if I buy a few new clothes meant for it right ?!

(EXTRA INFO)

M.A.R.I.N.A. By the way stands for (Philippine) Maritime Industry Authority , a government agency created during the 1970's to handle all maritime shipping related affairs particularly on Filipino Sailor matters like documents and stuff (Seaman's book). Below 1970's it was the coast guard who handle such affairs unfortunately the Philippine Government Figured out that Coast Guard was too lazy in such affairs and would be better off doing something else.

Find out more on their website www.marina.gov.ph

S.I.R.B. means seafarers identification and record book , In plain English it means a "Seaman's Book" . Basically it’s a small booklet the size of a Philippine Passport and even looks the same, and has even the same functions of it. A detailed description of a sailors travel (served ship) history.

This is the picture of my SIRB Book (Seaman's Book)

Kalaw Street in manila, near luneta is an Iconic place for Filipino sailors. This palace is simply a Side walk part of street and a hangout for Filipino sailors, no less that a hundred meters or so and houses a few employment booth

ANGKLA (THE NEW POLITICAL PARTY, DUH ????)

"Angkla" a new political party said to represent (sailor) Maritime Sector  in the government, Personally I don’t see any difference if this political party would make any changes at all on the working standards of Filipino sailors. Basically I think this group doesn’t have all the answers and they are just simply not that good enough to save thousands of Filipino Deck Cadets from slavery like conditions.

Onboard a ship , Harmonious Working relations to me means having a bigger knife than your Co-workers, Filipino's have told me that ! My bosun taught me that ! and that's the way we do it here ! and uhm ...... has pretty much worked so far in life :D

Heck for all I knew most Filipino sailors especially Deck Cadets are languishing from unemployment and lack of opportunities because elitist schools like PMMA and MAAP are taking all the working employment opportunities meant for Deck Cadets that graduated on private maritime colleges. The end result is too many people and not enough opportunities to go around with - A choking point.

Deck Cadets who are lucky enough to get employed languish on terrible working conditions in the domestic fleet and are paid very little (and some cases not at all) , they are heavily exploited and taken advantage of.

Fortunate Deck Cadets who have enough money or influence, get boarded on foreign trading ships - sweet as it may sound,  however they are heavily maltreated and picked on by Sociopath Sailors coming from PMMA and MAAP.

Either way a simple Filipino Deck Cadet has no way to turn, and basically leads him / her to one shit hole and down to the other. They wanted to "UPLIFT MARITIME EDUCATION STANDARDS" eh ??? Then they should start first on how to abolish slavery like conditions on deck cadets, how's that ?!

In Fairness to this political party, I think this party is a least a bit popular compared to other Political "Maritime sector themed" parties that came and went thru the years. However this political organizations effectiveness is still yet to be tested.

However Besides if you read correctly on their website www.angkla.org their platforms are basically pointless and doesn’t not differ from goals meant by other Filipino Sailor organizations out there. 

Somehow I'm saying this because I'm no longer the bright optimistic youth as I once was several years ago. My enthusiasm has been replaced slowly with doubt and pessimism , probably because I'm disenchanted on this so called "maritime" profession. I no longer crave this career as a path to an endless opportunity, I only view it as a hollow dead end career with a lot to sacrifice and little to gain. Seriously how can I be enthusiastic with this career when I perceived it as nothing more than a "Construction job in a floating object in the middle of the ocean" , The only difference is that its being masqueraded as a pseudo quasi militarist job, (no thanks to our beloved psychopathic Brethren sailors  from Philippine Merchant Marine Academy and Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific. ) and that the pay check is really good.


Before i end this entry , i saw this video over youtube. Probably its a rap song (i hate those songs) but the thing that caught my attention is that its has something to do with the Filipino sailor

NBI REVISTED

Things have been awfully quiet these past few days, Perhaps awfully quiet . In anyway I kept myself busy on catching up on a few things that I haven't attend to a long while, Mostly I just watched the shows that I haven't seen with for quite a while like Spartacus Season 3 and Walking Dead TV series just to kill time, I even read a few articles in Encarta encyclopedia for entertainment . To be honest I miss the situation where I just sit on the couch and watch the DVD or just sitting around and reading something, I had been so preoccupied that I never stopped by and "Smelled the Roses", guess I had a lot of time now

2:45 Am…..the following day

Ahh the morning in the lane

God ! I hate waking up early on the morning , but I had no choice - I had to haul off my ass and get it right. Honestly I don’t see the point why I had to wake up early in the morning just to get a queue number for the NBI clearance, in fact I find it ridiculous to be waking up in this hour and then walking all the way to the Robinsons Mall just for it when the actual opening time is still way up 8am in the morning. I abhor the recent quota system that NBI implemented this past few years. I think its unfair that they only serve up to only 1000 applicants a day, Its pathetic…. ,

Used to remember a few years ago that getting an NBI clearance certificate was easy - as in way easy. I remember the time where I had to go that so called satellite office at 4:45pm and still get the NBI certificate with 8 minutes to spare, Enough time to take a piss and even eat a small snack before the clock hits 5pm. Now every thing is god awful in NBI and they provide shitty service , It’s a good thing that us Filipino's have a good deal of patience towards this or else they would have razed NBI to the  ground. Unfortunately kindness and patience of "Us" Filipinos are always taken advantage of - even to us fellow Filipino's, and in this case "Kindness and patience" is being combined with abuse.

See what i mean ?? this one is using the guitar

 Surprisingly this so called "Quota" system of NBI has been going on for years now and nobody hasn’t even complained yet on this system, I'm wondering why someone hasn’t complained about this yet.

Going back on my situation ,I need to get an NBI clearance first before actually proceeding  to renew my Seaman's Book and unfortunately I had to ride along NBI's poor service just to get one.

By 3am I already arrived at the said site , not a bad time to start with since there only a few guys yet , to be specific I was about the 41st person to arrive on the line.

Waiting for me I guess was the hardest part , I had to wait for another a 4 hours on the overpass and another 3 hours inside the parking area of Robinsons East Metro Mall. It’s a good thing that I had with me my mini tablet and that I had already installed a Game Boy Advance emulator with it and I didn’t get bored over the next 4 hours. The game I played was Pokemon Fire Red Version on my mini Tablet. Some other folks had a guitar with them and sang just to kill time.

Its was about around 7am when some guard called us to line up outside the parking area of the said mall , There we waited another hour sitting on the bench until the guards would let us in. There was also a brief commotion when two ladies suddenly appeared to and squeeze in on the long lane , one guy to my right was annoyed and even complained to the guards about this, unfortunately it just fell on deaf ears. He even shouted "hey ladies back of the line please , there's a lot of people waiting here !! " . Unfortunately The ladies also ignored him. The guy has point anyway and I think its unfair for us here that we have waited for nearly 5 hours now and those cocksucking ladies just barge in out of nowhere and gets right in front of the lane.  Hmmm …. Fellow Filipino's have no sense of courtesy or fairness to each other alright, always trying to get advantage to their Filipino countrymen.

My NBI ticket number

After an hour the guards told us to go upstairs and go to the 4th floor of the building , nearly go lost on that part and couldn’t tell on which floor I was , good thing some of the people behind me pointed to the right direction.  In the parking lot there we waited for another hour , the wait was tremendously boring and I fell asleep on the wait, By the time I woke up the security guard was giving out a queue tickets and I got number 43 on the ticket. I looked on my watch and it was already about 10:15 am.

Immediately we went inside and was given an NBI application form to fill out , a few minutes later I finally got my NBI clearance. Hmm the NBI satellite office has a weird kind of sense of humor and they had to put a person on wait for more than 7 hours on a simple task of just getting it with only less than 15 minutes, yeah right !!! - all that trouble for a paper which I can get for about 15 minutes only.