TOILET TROUBLES

April 16, 2015 Thursday

While waiting for any news regarding berthing schedule, This ship temporarily had  a tiny problem regarding vacuum type toilets. Problem started at around 10 pm late night when the toilets stopped flushing (or suctioning given that it’s a "Vacuum" type) and persisted until on the next day of 7pm, worst part is that the septic / toilet system here on this ship is centralize which meant that if one machine (or area) breaks down the whole entire ship is also affected. Not exactly sure on what is the specific details given that it's an engineering maintenance kind of job, but from what I overheard it has something to do with the machine that produces a suction.

During the time the toilets were broken , some of my co-workers here are joking about us readying the buckets and throwing crap on the poop deck during night time where everyone else isn’t looking (I'm starting to figure out why the "Poop deck" is called that). For time the whole crew tried to hold off our urine and poop until the toilet machine down below the engine room got fixed. The whole engineering crew was all over it and had its full attention getting it on working condition. The jokes didn't stop until after dinner , saying that we should try not to eat that much given that some of us might not hold of our poop longer than expected, eventually the toilets started working again at around 7pm otherwise we'd start throwing poop at the aft area of this ship.

In regards to work….

Captain Sorin seems to be hyper mode, and keeps making rounds and looking for people if they look busy on work. Of course I had to steer clear and lay low given that SORIN is riding asses again.

In particular he was riled up on O.S. Bantic, Elezar A. ,When he asked on what's the next thing he will do after this work. O.S. Bantic replied that he's going to sleep afterwards. From afar I saw the commotion going on (I was in the forward area of the ship, working on the sprinkler valves) , I was busy chipping off rust and polishing the valve and was already near finish when after a few minutes , I saw on my back that the captain was looking at me. Very intimidating and said what I was doing and gave me some comments that I shouldn't keep the air always on as it may have problems later on the ships compressor. 

TO THE DISTANT CONTINENT

APRIL 13, 2015

Dropping anchor wasn't as bad as it was compared to CONTI Greenland , No thanks to my previous BOSUN Nilo Payopay who made me learn on how to drop anchor effectively. Now given with my experience and skill acquired , I dropped anchor without any problems in CONTI Agulhas and believe it or not the anchor brakes have a much better grip than Greenland.

Anchoring procedure is slightly a bit different in Agulhas and this ship only requires one BOSUN and one O.S. to drop and anchor the vessel compare to other ships I had been before. Typically there should be two O.S. around and a BOSUN during anchoring operation but somehow they have reduced the staff to just two. Anyway like any other NSB Conti Ships, Anchoring is still via free fall / gravity type and not by winch.  

In the meantime after dropping anchor this ship has finally arrived in Netherlands after a couple of days sailing, Its now exactly sure on the next destination of this ship after Netherlands it could be somewhere again on Europe, or Africa or maybe perhaps in America. Doesn’t really matter at all, as long as Captain Sorin gets disposed of - everything's going to be fine without him.

There's a rumour going on that this ship might be headed for Ecuador after discharge in Netherlands but it's still hard to tell if this is confirmed, but there is some hints that this ship might be headed there. From what I heard CONTI Ginuea had some problems with the U.S. Coast Guard at the moment regarding fire safety and flunked the inspections TWICE and as a result CONTI Ginuea might be pulled out from its dedicated station in the America's and be called back in Europe and as a rumour this ship will serve as a replacement since this ship had already a previous voyages before in the America's.

On my opinion the America's has a plus and minus factor, plus in the sense that electronic goods are really in good quality and cheap there. There a possibility that I might be even get my hands on a Mac Computer for my sister there, in other words America is good economically. Another good thing about America's is the communications, Internet connection is definitely good there - so there won't be any problems for me contacting my relatives there in case they need me in an emergency. Probably there's even the possibility that money wire transfers is accessible in the America's (door to door money delivery service in Filipino terms)

The minus part is the weather and the disembarkation part, Currently the weather in America is definitely hot and humid at this time - it may be ok and cool here in Europe even on summer for Filipino standards but in America , Summer there is another story. From what I had experienced years before - America during summer time is hellishly hot, perhaps even hotter than the Philippines. Definitely a big no - no for me since almost all of my equipment are suited in cooler cold climates like in Europe. 

Another thing that concerns me is the luggage restrictions in Ecuador (in case of possible disembarkation). From what I heard on my colleagues at work. The airline there can only accommodate one check in luggage per sailor, In other words it's only a 20 kilogram limit and I'd be forced to leave or even pay the other check in luggage I had if ever there's a possibility I'm going to disembark there on the latter. Anyway this is only a possibility, and as much as possible its disembarkation should be in the U.S. given that I still have a valid U.S. Visa.

I do hope that this will not be the situation that this ship will be facing on the latter, I'm still optimistic that this ship will still be based on Europe rather than in the America's

IN OTHER NEWS ….

Given with the excess amount of time and much more "light" working schedules of Conti Agulhas, I had decided to restart my gym program after almost a year being dormant. The gym equipment in NSB Conti isn't as good as the one's in CSM Cape's but at least its sufficient to maintain a workout.

On work related affairs. For the moment since there is still no announcement yet on which date and time will the pilot come , we are off doing maintenance work  in chipping a few rust on the crane for the fast rescue boat. As much as possible BOSUN Diosana limits the work as much as possible since there's no exact assurance on what time and date will this ship berth at the moment and it's difficult to be caught off guard that were still doing maintenance while this ship is already berthing.

Aside from the rescue boat, we did also chipped off part of the hook on the cargo crane and the water tight door in the deck store.

Anyway one observation I had found out is on this CONTI NSB ship, people here have a low morale when it comes to work , probably in the fact that salary has been reduced to 103 from 120 hours of overtime pay ( no thanks to captain sorin) and there is absolutely no way sailors here are compensated here on the hard work, heck even the ship officers here change actual working hours on our working job sheet papers and reduce them just to appease people on NSB office that they won't pay up on the sailors extra efforts, Thinking that the sailors here do really actually love their work .  I wouldn’t  blame my co-workers here for such having a low morale given on the working conditions, after all nobody in the world would want to work for free and we would be better off slacking and resting rather than work without being compensated. 

LIFE UNDER A TYRANT

April 09, 2015 Thursday

Life under a tyrant dictator can all be but challenging, On a ship ratings and officers are at the mercy of a depriving captain who fancies himself as god. Seriously these are one of the reasons why I encourage Filipino's not to take a job as a sailor or study a college course called B.S.M.T. (bachelor of science in marine transportation). Incoming college students and High school students are too damn good to deserve this rotten kind of life, and I feel sorry for them to condemn themselves on this life of hardship.

A lot of people wonder on what kind of society sailors live on-board a ship, like I said I can only summarize it that it's an autocratic dictatorship and nothing more, some ships have a benign dictatorship but nevertheless ITS STILL AN AUTOCRATIC form of society with no room for any form democratic kind of system. A person taking this course is basically condemning himself / herself on a life of coveralls and closed spaced dwelling and strip all individual freedom normally a society will offer. Basically sailors nowadays are just prisoners with a salary and more like a feeling that you're going into jail, trading off and sacrificing years of life and freedom for money. 

On a ship, there are all sorts of evil and wicked people out here, Filipino's and foreign nationals alike. If a worker is assigned on a unfortunate ship who has a kind of captain that violates basic human right and civil liberties, he is in one hell of a ride. It's unfortunate that on my situation here the captain here is very depriving on one of the most basic human necessities known to man - WATER.

Can you believe that !? Water, For now based on the information I heard. Captain Sorin Sageta is one depriving bastard and even the laundry is not spared at all on his wrath and this corroborates testaments said by Messman Montaya in Conti Greenland few months ago that "Sorin" has a laundry schedule of twice per week (or none at all if there's a work operation at port) and as a result laundry is piling up not because the crew here are lazy to wash to them but because the laundry room is locked up. According to my co-workers and from what I'm observing first hand, laundry room hasn't been opened for a more than a week ( up to now while writing this) and some of them are forced to wash their clothes by hand inside their cabins. Worst is that it's not only the laundry that suffers the most , even clean drinkable bottled water is restricted to the crew.

It is only my conclusion that the remaining three months with him around will be filled with nothing more than pure torture and suffering. For now potable and clean water is scare on this ship despite the availability, and I bet this is just only the beginning for the four month long tyrannical rule of "Sorin" on this ship and more out of this world hardship will come in the days ahead. I have no idea why this captain impose this kind of restrictions on laundry given that there's water all around the ship, and I had been into a CONTI NSB type of ship previously and the structure of these kinds of ship has sufficient volume of water enough not to impose this water restriction. Anyway it's only a conclusion that the logical answer is that this current ship captain is a neurotic one who has succumb to mental disease. A social degenerate to simply say. 

One of my co-workers here say that this captain was not as ruthless as before and that he changed on a lesser extent of being wicked after having a heart attack, Honestly I beg to disagree on his impression because I have a saying "ONCE A BASTARD WILL ALWAYS BE A BASTARD" . On my perception my co-worker only says that Captain Sorin is less vicious because of the fact that he has only been around on this ship a month and that he's wickedness hasn't reach full blast yet, and my rough estimate is that it will take another month to reach its full height.

Good thing despite this challenges, my ingenuity is a bit advance for an average sailor and giving me an edge that despite this so called unnecessary water discipline, I can still wash my clothes and coveralls without ever using the laundry room. Unknown to them I brought along laundry soaps on my luggage for the journey plus a laundry brush to wash my clothes, So basically my supplies could last up at least 3 months based on the soap I'm carrying. Aside from that I'm already experienced in handling this situation given that I had already encountered this kind of situation in "CAPE TALLIN" ship a few years ago.

Aside from having problems with the water , All of a sudden Sundays off work was cancelled and we were doing basically the usual maintenance work. The captain reasoned out why Sundays work off was cancelled was because of the fact that this ship will be undergoing some sort of internal audit from NSB and probably were expecting guest when this ship arrives in Netherlands , so this "ship" has basically have to prepare for the inspections. 

NEWS UPDATE

After two weeks (and a month on the other crew) , the laundry room has finally opened up hallelujah ! I was already in the brink of washing my clothes and coveralls using the method I devised back in CAPE TALLIN ages ago.

THE UGLY TRUTH

APRIL 07, 2015 Tuesday

"WORK HAS STARTED, MAY IT END SOON"

Just unfinished unpacking my stuff and putting some of it on my cabinet and my locker for work. I tend to reflect and look back on my life in the Philippines, on those nearly 3 months that have passed seems like just a dream, and that I had to woke up again and find myself here in European waters. Frankly I wish I had more time back home and there are still a lot of stuff that I wish to do in the Philippines that was cut short because of my work as a sailor., Seriously I'm not enjoying my life knowing that I'm imprisoned here and all locked up on some floating vehicle that strides over water - I mean I should be spending my life in making important memories than being trapped and doing work.

Anyway being a sailor, One should be mentally, Physically and logistically stable enough to endure its rigors. Most sailors overlook this factor and just concentrate on their experience and knowledge on work and look on how they turned out - a total social degenerate, unable to cope and fit in on the outside world and a social outcast. Yes most of them indeed are very good doing their respective jobs but anything beyond that , their just simply poison and mentally handicap.

Being a sailor myself, I not only focus my attention on the knowledge and experience but pay attention on being mentally, physically and logistically stable, I focus on those factors as well which sets me a bit different from the rest of the litter. Not to brag but I can say that from the rest of the group here, I'm one of the most well equip and advance when it comes to the gear I use on work. Some of the folks here just relay on experience and skill alone to last for the contract compared to me.

Honestly I take pride that I excel on the logistics factor and knowing that I'd be away from home for months on work and being Isolated and no going back until the contract finishes. I brought along  all the necessary equipment needed to last for the long duration, this includes not only work equipment but also personal equipment like external hard drives which contains movies and a laptop which has national geographic documentary videos to entertain me plus several video games and an offline journal. Aside from that I had a PC tablet as a support device for my Laptop in case something bad happens. I guess I excel on the logistical and this provides me comfort that I will last out more than six months despite the conditions here.

In matters happening on-board

A lot of people might wonder why I put my stuff on the bathroom instead of the locker room, it is because of security reasons and to prevent thievery from my other crewmates, Aside from that is that I could easily get dressed up in case I'm needed on work in a short notice. I started this tactic way back on my second ship "Bow Ophelia" and was not perfected until my stay in Cape Tallin which was in full use and was very effective against my enemies there, providing isolation and security. 

Anyway I had just finished renovating and fixing up the bathroom of my cabin and converting it as a makeshift locker room (aside from a bath room) and made use of a bed sheet as a suitable replacement for a shower curtain to prevent my working equipment from getting wet.

At around 11:45 am I was getting ready to prepare for work and will take a meal on the crew mess when suddenly I noticed that the crew mess was a bit different and there were white sheets placed on the two tables, what added more to my astonishment was that there are still no food prepared yet for the noon meal. I went back to the kitchen and saw that Chief cook Pineda was still preparing food, I asked him if there's anything special going on at the crew mess and he said that there is indeed some sort of upcoming party or get together of sorts two hours from now . I was asked back if I do recall a scheduled party of sorts a few days back, I replied that indeed I do remember that there's a scheduled party but never occurred to me that it was supposedly today and though earlier that it was after this port that a party will be held.

At about 2pm I was going down to the crew mess to get some chow when I heard my phone cabin rang, It was A.B. Nelson Dominguito. Message was that I had to go to the portside to prepare the pilot ladder, From that message I already knew that this ship will know be leaving tarragona, Spain. I hurriedly got dressed up and went there. When I arrived There was only BOSUN Diosana and O.S. Rafael Crisostomo preparing the ladder and I joined up with them. Combination ladder seems to be very easy now on my side knowing previously that Greenland and Agulhas ship are exactly alike even on equipment and somehow believe it or not - I'm not exactly afraid in going down on the gangway ladder anymore, it just seemed now that everything makes sense. 

After the ladder was Finished, the next thing to do was go to the Forward mooring station and Unmoor the ship. The mooring arrangement 2-2-2 wasn’t a problem and we hurriedly Unmoored and packed the ropes inside the BOSUN'S Store compartment. While stowing I manage to have a small chat with BOSUN Diosana, from what I learned from him my previous BOSUN. Mr. Payopay , was a total badass as a BOSUN years back and it was only until recently when he lost his son that his bad habit got toned down. Well it was good for me that Mr Payopay toned down during my time in Greenland, and I never thought he was an asshole before.

Soon after work was done, We the party proceeded but I wasn’t exactly in the mood to eat , probably because I'm more tired rather than hungry. During the meal time I heard rumours that 2nd engineer Yuriy Pavlenko was gay (homosexual) of some sort, I don’t know it that was exactly true or not and probably just some nasty rumours of sort going on. Anyway during the meal despite everybody is tired and wanted to rest on the next day , it seems that Captain Sorin wanted us to work straight even on Sundays. Well looks that way. For now the alexandria, Egypt destination got scrubbed and was replaced with Rotterdam, Netherlands destination. If that will be the case then I guess I'd be seeing Sunny Euro again (Europeans call it sunny radio).

THE FOLLOWING DAY …..

First day of maintenance, Seriously it's just like any other day when I'm on-board on the past 5 ships. Usual deck washing "Baldeho" although some of my current co-workers are having a difficult time adjusting on this new time schedule Captain Sorin put up. Supposedly there shouldn't be any work but it looks like Sorin never really cared about it. Anyway on my part I had no problems with it given that I maintain a policy of readiness since I'm on-board working, to simply put it never drink a lot of beer (and any kind of alcohol) if I'm not sure whether there's work for tomorrow and we might never knew if the Captain is truly an asshole and this is the instance that I'm well adapted.

On the first day of maintenance work for us, Pumpman Sepulveda was very furious about some guy in the engine room. I didn't ask further who it was or what was the reason but it's definitely some guys there, saying that there a bunch of cocky sons of bitches.

UGLY TRUTH ABOUT CAPTAIN SORIN SALVADORE SAGETA.  

Back on my last ship, I heard some stories about this captain, about him being one of the meanest, toughest , son of a bitch in NSB. Sometimes I even wonder when I hear those stories that it might be just an exaggerated kind of circulating rumour of sorts. Anyway the story about this Captain is that he is rumoured to be an autocratic high and mighty person who abuses his crew. Based also on the rumours I heard was that most crew in the Philippines refused to join any NSB ship when they find out that their ship captain will be Sorin, In fact from what I heard was that CONTI Greenland ( the former ship I was assigned with) went to a formal protest in NSB when they heard "Sorin" was coming. The protest says that he wants that captain booted out, NSB responded that they will reshuffle their list of captains so that the crew won't have any idea , who's coming.

There's another rumour going on that one mess man committed suicide when he heard that captain was coming. The mess man was mentally abused and always demeaned on the previous captain and when he heard that the next captain will be the same ( Captain Sorin Sageta ), he couldn't take it anymore and decided to jump on the sea.

Another rumour I heard was that the person who saved him was in such regret that he had to save that captain at all from a heart attack a few years back, Story goes on saying that he should have let the captain died from it rather than reviving him. The ship would be a better place without him and despite its "unintentional murder" nature, story says it was for the greater good of all the people on-board if he's dead.

Anyway to add there's a funny version of that story on how that captain was revived from a heart attack , I'm not exactly sure as how it goes but from what I heard , CPR wasn't exactly performed on him when he had a heart attack , apparently from what I heard . Some guy literary pulled off his dick from his pants just to save him, and according to tale. The captain was so furious that instead worrying of his heart attack, he sprang up from furiousness and told the guy to never pull off his dick from his crouch ever again. 

BACK TO EUROPE

"I will start from scratch on this new ship, but I have done so successfully before. When I started out a few years ago I only relied on my strength and vigilance. Survivalism has never baffled me, as it has so many others. Such principles just makes sense in me. I will lead my family to great riches, and Career Ship management will profit once I had my share"

APRIL 05, 2015 Sunday

After being notified by Career Shipping company on such a short notice, and getting the plane ticket in just a few hours before the actual despatch (can you imagine me hurling my way on such long distance from my home) and successfully making it all the way to Taragona, Spain along with five others. Only the four of us proceeded directly out of the airport and into Conti Agulhas (what no hotel accommodations??) and one was left to the hotel to be followed in joining us on the latter.

While writing this , I had been on CONTI AGULHAS for a couple of hours now, staying on the Suez cabin temporarily and making observations. So far I won't be able to make yet a full analysis on my situation, but here's some information I had gathered within just a couple of hours. CONTI Agulhas seems to be having problems with the water supply and as far as I'm concerned and this affects basic stuff like laundry and potable water (one litre of mineral water allowed only for now per person as opposed to my previous ship Conti Greenland were there's an abundance of water).

One observation I made something about this ships current captain. From what I heard on rumours  spreading on my previous ship they're not saying anything positive about this so called Captain "Soren" guy. I asked a few folks here on CONTI Agulhas and they say the captain is an OK guy but they're comments are somewhat restrained and hiding something, or their comments are somewhat fake on my intuition, - not exactly sure for now but it gives me a nasty impression that something might be wrong on the surroundings.

Another observation I had made is when I had a small chat on the O.S. I'd be replacing. He mentioned something that folks around here are easier to get along with and theirs so called "harmony" , Honestly when he mentioned that, It raised my suspicion that people here might not be going along well and based from my experience both from STOLT Strength and more recently Cape Tallin - you don’t mention those kinds of words (or highlight it) when everything is exactly  in good harmony, but like I said I haven't made my mind yet on what's the general situation on-board this ship given that I had just arrived.

As for the folks here, I had been familiar with Pump man Thanny and chief cook Pineda from Conti Greenland and their Ok and for the moment all the other folks I saw are somewhat less of a threat for now (or my data and observations is still incomplete). However theirs a folk here whom I encountered on Cape Tallin and obviously I'm not in good terms with him ever since my days there. To be specific I'm mentioning 3rd mate German Tan Corales (the predecessor of Third Made Byron Fourie in Cape Tallin) who happens to be now the current 3rd mate of Conti Agulhas, He's not much of a threat in general but the problem is that he knows my past being in a call centre before and that kind of information is very dangerous and damaging when I work as a sailor. Worse part of it is that this guy sucks on keeping confidential information and sooner or later I suspect that this fucker will spill in the beans and damage my reputation when I'm really having a bad day. Regardless it’s a good thing that NSB ships have only a life span contract of six months maximum and after that I'd be starting again on a clean slate, So whatever the damage this might incur, it will only be temporarily and will not hurt a lot in general.

For the flora and fauna around Conti Agulhas, basically this ship is just almost an exactly replica of CONTI Greenland, the piping systems , the arrangement of rooms and even positions of equipment are very much the same. Based on the rumours I heard about Conti ships, it looks like that indeed their claims are correct and each of the six Conti Ships are exactly alike to each other. The only difference is that this Conti Agulhas is more of a Chemical Tanker rather than a Full fledge Oil tanker like in Conti Greenland

For now my general observations on life in Conti Agulhas is that there is a present danger but not enough to make my hairs stand given with my experience , But in the meantime as a friendly warning I better be careful and watch my back.

In other news….

Certainly took me a while to finally get used to my surroundings, For the moment my data and analysis is still incomplete on the flora and fauna of Conti Agulhas and I can only give the basics of my situation here.

On the moment Conti Agulhas structure and layout is very similar (if not alike) on Conti Greenland ship. From the individual cabins - all the way to the piping system and railings , as if like I was totally warped back to Greenland. I had no trouble in memorizing the surroundings , the only difference is were equipment's are supposedly to be located. 

In the meantime , this ship is currently in Tarragona, Spain discharging Naptha. Some sort of "white" petroleum products, (though I'm not exactly sure if this is a poisonous version of naptha ). Discharge operations were finish on the span of only two days and the next port is still in Spain with only a six hour difference, Soon after the discharge I took care of the essentials like washing my civilian clothes and take a bath (haven't cleaned myself up until I left the Philippines)

MATTERS OF THE HEART

This is how i would look like when all these ECG sensors are strapped all over me on an actual Treadmill Stress test

With the recent detection of some suspected problem on my heart by Halcyon Marine Health care System. I decided to verify this results if this were true on the local hospital, Good thing that my sister has a local contact with the hospital to perform ECG (Electro cardiogram) for free. Results verified indeed there is some sort of problem detected but is too faint to pinpoint on where exactly is the cause of it and needs further more test to verify it, (Specifically a 2D echo). For now based on the result there is numerous causes why the beat of my heart is palpitating. The nurse say that it is related something to my diet and have been drinking too much caffeinated drinks like coffee or soft drink , or some sort of electrolyte imbalance - that sort of thing , Other suggest it is something to do related on my sleeping pattern of sorts ( I wake up 11am and sleep at 3 or 4 am).

As of the moment it is not pinpointed yet on what is the cause of this problem, until a 2D echo test is made and verified. The local cardiologist say that I'm still going to fit in the medical screen for OFW's - at least for now, however he implied indirectly that somewhere in the near future I might find myself having problems with my heart valves and may later resort to be forced to retire at a very young age.

Without further test , it is speculation that somewhere on the lower part of my heart has problems and this has a relation to the beating rhythm - maybe even the valves themselves has a problem.

Unfortunately the general rule in being a sailor is sadly bound on one's health and this work is very vulnerable to any form of disease, compared to any other types of work. Have any chronic disease and it will untimely end your career as a sailor - it doesn’t matter if you have a license or not or even if you're a novice Deck cadet , a veteran A.B. or O.S. , The thing here is that once a chronic health problem is detected. IT WILL UNTIMELY END AND (FORCE) RETIRE a sailor. In other words the things that a sailor brags about on propaganda like the money, women and travel - well they can kiss that all goodbye.

So how this is related to me ? Given with my predicament , it is likely that this will turn out to be a (Force) retirement on the near future and had to quit it altogether, not to mention that since there is an early warning that my heart beating is irregular I can only surmise that it will untimely end my life in short notice and literary (and figuratively) drop dead on my tracks.

It is fortunately believe it or not , that I didn’t not pursue in getting a license in officer ships or else it will render a quarter of a million peso cost only usable in a couple of years' time and we'll be utterly worthless in the near future. Sooner or later , I'm going to retire from this job either I like it or not. Anyway I could have retired from this job a long time ago if it weren't for the sake of my younger sister, Unfortunately she is still in law school and there's no way for me yet to do anything about it until she finishes schooling.

In other news

Given with my recent predicament with health, I decided to drop by on the Social Security to check out a salary loan and as well inquire and possibly apply for this so called "FLEXI FUND" program they had specifically for OFWS. Well it turns out that Career never paid my last December's Social security and turns out that instead of 6 months paid social security , it only registers as 5 months on the Social security records resulting to me being disqualifying to make a salary loan.

As for the "Flexi Fund" retirement fund for OFW's , I was also disqualified on that part. In particular on the part of having a "NO PERMANENT (Foreign) ADDRESS" given that sailors do not stay on a country that long - (WHAT THE FUCK ??? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN ?) .

Now the thing here that annoys me based on their propaganda material (includes the website) , is that what part of the word "OFW" does a sailor do not belong ? And that sailors are not qualified (and excluded as not OFW's ) to take flexi fund program for OFW's on the basis of FOREIGN ADDRESS ISSUE only ! . In other words an ordinary humble sailor (me in particular) WILL NOT FIND any retirement financial security other than a standalone social security pension later on in life. As for the Social Security - next time when there are planning to start a pension programme, make sure that they have already worked out the details especially on the OFW part.

OBJECTIVES AS OF MARCH 18, 2015

1. Take Medical exam

 A. Repair dental

 B. Retake urinalysis test

 C. Retake Thread mill

 D. Clearance on dental

 E. Pay Halcyon Marine Medical 2000 Php for retake med exam

 F. Retake IQ test

2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing

HEARTACHE BY THE NUMBERS

1. Take Medical exam

 A. Repair dental

 B. Retake urinalysis test

 C. Retake Thread mill

 D. Clearance on dental

 E. Pay Halcyon Marine Medical 2000 Php for retake med exam

 F. Retake IQ test

2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing 

As of the moment these are the only accomplish object I had finished on the span of two weeks, Very little progress has been made given that funding has been very scarce. I could accomplish other objectives that require almost no funding within a week, however for the objectives that require money, then it will be a problem. It be put on a grinding halt on it.

After a week of finding funding and cancelling out my deployment on CONTI Ginuea , (As a result of lack of funding to repair my dentals). I had finally manage to fix my dental problems but again,  unexpectedly I encountered a crippling road block. When I came back to the Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems to have dental cleared and the other pending medicals as well , I'm surprised to find this out on the cashier.

Apparently I was caught by surprise to find out that retaking parts of the Medical exam is charged to the patients and not to the company. In other words since I had four parts of the med exam that I had failed, I had to pay them in cash on the retaking of these exams amounting to a total of 2,000 Philippine Pesos.  What the hell ??? Worst of the insult was that these four pending parts are dubious.

Like for example being put on a tread mill test which for all I know is reserved for people who have heart problems . What the FUCK ???!!! SINCE WHEN DID I HAVE A HEART PROBLEM ??!!! Seriously i think Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is ripping me off on money and saying false reports that i have a heart issue. I assure you I'm fit as a horse,

Besides that eight months ago i was put on medical diagnostic and maritime medical clinic didn't say i had one. Now question here is if there is any changes on the medical on a short amount of time ? I was cleared before and why not now ? Worst Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems charges patients separately for retest (they say the company doesn’t cover it) and i had to shoulder the cost and pay them in cash, implying that they're really ripping me off - WHAT THE FUCK !!!!

Third is it's highly unlikely for my age to have a heart problem and I'm starting think Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is just robbing me by making false medical reports and take note, i recall my blood pressure on that day of the test to be 110 / 70 . How the hell do you explain that you halcyon fuckers !!!!

It’s a good thing that there isn't such a thing called "Fraud" in the Philippines (both technically and figuratively by Phil. Law )but fact is Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is committing fraud in the sense that they are intentionally falsifying medical records by deliberately failing their patients on test for monetary gains and for the purpose of making their patients pay extra for repeated medical test. FILIPINO SAILORS SHOULD AVOID THIS MEDICAL CLINIC LIKE THE PLAGUE. As it will rip your money (and wallet) to shreds. Believe me common Filipino sailors you have been warned !! .  This is the information about this fraudulent clinic and I'm posting it so anyone out there should be aware as a public service

For the interest of Everyone and to the GENERAL PUBLIC

Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems

Webiste: www.halcyonmarine.com.ph

Address: Floors 10, 14 and 19 Trafalgar Plaza

105 H.V. Dela Costa Street

Salcedo Village

Makati City

Philippines

UNRESOLVED MATTERS

M.A.R.I.N.A. COP Releasing Booth as of March 09, 2015 Time picture taken was 1713 HRS

Two sudden changes have been applied on the NSB principal in Career, First off the medical clinic for NSB principal is now Halcyon Marine Health care systems. (previously it was Maritime Medical Clinic) located HV dela costa street, deep within Makati City. Second changes was the additional In-house training called QMS (Quality Management System) which I have to take in Senator Crewing Agency near POEA area.

I had already accomplished taking the medical screening, and cleared most required test. Incidentally my X-ray was not a problem and my Blood test are all clear. However though I had cleared most of the test some are still yet to be repeated like my urinalysis and Psych exam , as well as have dental repairs. For the moment the status of my medical is still in a pending situation due to lack of funding for repairs on my dental. I guess I have to figure out a way to get the necessary funds needed. Once my medical exam is cleared my next objective will be taking this so called QMS In-house seminar

For the moment this is my current quest objectives to be completed to be on-board the next NSB ship.

1. Pass Medical Exam and clear pending issues

         A. Pass urinalysis

         B. Repair two teeth for dental

         C. Take Thread mill test

         D. Retake Psych Exam

         E. Submit Stool sample

2. Take QMS in house on senator crewing
3. Recover BTOCT COP Document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting briefing

Recently my agenda in MARINA to get my BTOCT COP Document ended up in an "epic fail" scenario. Apparently my COP document will be released at 3pm this march 9th  but turns out that when in arrived at about 5 pm the whole COP Releasing booth was cluttered with other sailors who are also trying to get their COP's as well. From what I saw there was a total disarray on how the staff handled things and could not in any way control the crowd and assume order. When I finally manage to squeeze in to the front of the booth , the female personnel there said that they will not accept my stub and I will have to go back tomorrow - To simply say it their telling me that the booth is already closed despite the fact that office hours of MARINA was rumoured to be extended by around 10pm.

I didn’t manage to push through , as what I saw in the surroundings and best to call it a day and be back when my schedule (and funding) is clear.

Incidentally as well during my visit in MARINA , I saw my old college friend there named joenar palomas trying to get his MARINA COP. I had a chat with him in the nearby 7-11 store on the Magsaysay building. We chatted about the latest news going on in the seafaring community , and told him that if he has any relatives that are still enrolled in PMI college , it is best that he should transfer now given that PMI is having problems with licensing issues on MARINA. I added that currently there are only four Maritime Schools that are sanctioned by Marina in the metro manila area , and that is AIMS, TIP, FEATI and PMMS las pinas - beyond that every maritime school is still under evaluation and yet to be cleared. We talked for hours before parting ways.

For the moment all my agendas are pending till I get funding , In the meantime I'm having difficulty in securing this given that previously I was drained of cash in paying all the medical debts my mom had on her hospitalization last month. So basically I'm left penniless as of the moment

I hope I get the necessary funding within a week.

Funding for my work has been difficult to obtain, given that my current predicament is that were still knee high deep on debts from mom's last year series of hospitalization, and my sister simple couldn't find any more money lenders to help me out and some eligible money lenders are not willing to let us borrow money. Seriously I could still have funds up to now if I wasn’t got dragged down in paying all those debts , I alone could not consume that high and could maintain my savings for at least six months.

Apparently on actual situations it only lasted for a month…

Problem on my situation is that I'm not spending my own money and ended up me being penniless in the end. The situation in the house is difficult and dragging - enough to make my situation complicated and be in the bankrupt status. A simple repair on my dental problems could mean weeks before being solved out (up to now I'm still pending ).

The only solution I could think of if I get out of this financial mess, is change tactics . I don’t want to resolve to being greedy or stiff but the situation calls for me otherwise, Personally I'm very generous but people around me take advantage of that  - So I end up in this kind of misfortune. Anyway things will be hard for me and difficult from this day onwards and definitely I will change tactics for my sake on future "Vacations"

There are numerous ways my sister and I are thinking on how to fund my work as of the moment, One possibility is for me to get a salary loan on the social security but its plagued with problems on the fact that when I checked online , The information that was fed there says that my employer is not registered on the Social Security - implying that it could be that I have to get a salary loan by going to the Social security office directly. 

The Whole Floor Processing area of COP Documents, This Floor is reserve for the "Expedite" Processing of Documents. 

Manage to grab one of this Magazines in Kalaw area before going back to MARINA Office

STEAMROLLING SITUATION

Couple of days ago, I got a BTOCT COP document from M.A.R.I.N.A. , This time around I tried the Online Appointment system method. Took me only a couple of hours to accomplish the COP document and I'd be back by march 09 to get the document.

From my point of perspective Online appointment system of MARINA is a huge improvement compared to the "walk in " version of their COP document , it drastically reduces the time of step 1 process to a fraction of the time normally taken by just going to the "walk in" . Typically (as what I wrote before) the step one process takes literary half a day of waiting just going thru it and worst is that I had to wake up early at 1 am in the morning and be there at around 3am, accomplishing the COP document will be around somewhere on noon time or 1 pm , so it’s a 12 hour long wait on that scenario.

From my observation the 12 hour long waiting time is divided into these . It's about 50 percent waiting time on step 1 process, 15 percent of time waiting in step two which is payment and 35 percent waiting time of the step 3 part which is encoding.

For now I will rate the online application to be positive because of that alone. However despite the huge improvement it is not perfect, like for example it does greatly reduce the amount of time and effort on step 1 but does little in (or none at all) on step two process and three process. So for the payment and encoding step , it is still back to the classic dirty old routine of getting back to the line and waiting for your turn.

On my way home , I saw on the LRTA -2 recto station that there are huge creates position on where the former ticket vending machines place. I wonder to myself if this will be the return of the machines that spit out tickets, since I haven't seen any functioning one since a couple of years back. I'd stay tune on this one.

On Tuesday March 3, 2015 . I had received again a call from my company from the landline phone telling to hurry up. The details according to what they said to me was that my departure will be on the march 08, I told them that I'm still not finish my documents on that time and its impossible for me to catch up on that deadline. Despite my protest, the company told me to go directly to the office to discuss further details in clearing this matter.

Following day , after a brief discussion with the crewing manager "captain Nidoy"- I was assured that march 08 2015 will be cancelled and that most of the batch I was joining with are still in the same situation as I am.

For the moment the objectives left before clearing are the following

1. Take Medical exam
2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing  

Probably it will take me a week or more to accomplish this, and it depends on my financial capabilities. If fully funded I could reach the deadline , but with restrictions its assumed that it will take a week. 

OVERWHELMING PESSIMISM OF A OFW

Guess vacation time is almost over, After two month I am now headed back again in Europe. The Company I'm employed with just called and gave me the details, They said I'd be reassigned again back to CONTI N.S.B. ships and to specific it will be CONTI Guinea.

It was a good vacation but i had to face the reality of heading back again.

Sometimes i wonder and ask myself is a Filipino OFW really the modern day hero's or just another faceless modern day slave worker ? I have a lot of skepticism about this. about the part why are we called that , are we truly a hero ?.

As far as i know , Heroes selflessly die for patriotic cause , OFW's didn't die for their country - THEY ARE SOLD BY OUR COUNTRY TO SLAVERY AND EXPLOITED to patch up the mistakes of our society and our leaders, and be the "milking cow".

I don't think OFW's will be phased out not for the next century or two given with these situation. Not until we learned the mistakes and understand it why we are here.  I could say on my blog and at my time that the OFW way of life is still at its peak.