Certificate of Compliance given to NMP by the PCCO on 04 January 2018

 TACLOBAN CITY – The National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), a government controlled and operated maritime training and research institution with principal address located at Brgy. Cabalawan, Tacloban City, received its Certificate of Compliance from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on 04 January 2018, being fully-compliant to the provisions set forth by the Executive Order (EO) No. 2 series of 2016 dated 23 July 2016 entitled “Operationalizing in the Executive Branch the People’s Constitutional Right to Information and the State Policies to Full Public Disclosure and Transparency in the Public Service and Providing Guidelines Therefor”.

EO No. 2 s. 2016 is the enabling order for Freedom of Information (FOI).  It operationalizes in the Executive Branch the people’s constitutional right to information.  It also provides the state policies to full disclosure and permanency of transparency in the public service. Moreover, it   directs every government office to prepare its own FOI Manual.

It can be recalled that NMP submitted its FOI Manual to the PCOO on 27 September 2017.  It was likewise posted on the NMP’s website under Transparency Seal on the same date, as required by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Harmonization of National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems (AO 25 Task Force) through its Memorandum Circular No. 2017-1, Section 5.  NMP is now one of the one hundred sixty (160) out of one hundred eighty nine (189) National Government Agencies (NGAs) who complied with the said requirement.

FOI is a government mechanism which allows Filipino citizens to request information about the government transactions and operations, provided that it shall not put into jeopardy privacy and matters of national security.  The PCCO oversees the operation of the FOI program and serves as the coordinator to ensure that it is properly implemented.

Any Filipino citizen can make an FOI request. As a matter of policy, a requesting party is required to present proof of identification.  There are no fees for making such request, however, agencies may charge reasonable fee for necessary costs of printing, reproduction and / or photocopying.  It is mandated that all replies shall be sent within fifteen (15) working days from receipt of the request.  Should the need arise, the Agency will be sending response, informing of an extension of processing period no longer than twenty (20) working days, unless exceptional circumstances warrant a longer period.

As guidance for the procedure of filing and processing of request for any Filipino citizens who desires access to information and official records pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions of NMP, they may visit the NMP website www.nmp.gov.ph and access the NMP FOI Manual under the Transparency Seal page.

Meanwhile, 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 including value-adding courses towards improving the qualifications of Filipino seafarers for their employment acceptability and enhanced competitiveness.  It also regularly conducts maritime studies to come up with policies for the improvement of the manpower sector of the industry.

Those interested to take NMP training programs may visit the NMP website and its facebook page (www.facebook.com/nmptrainingcenter) where all related information on NMP trainings are available.