Axed MARINA head defends foreign trips

Recently dismissed Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) administrator Marcial Amaro III defended that his trips to foreign countries were part of his job and not junkets.

“But the thing is, MARINA is an international organization. We are a special organization of the government that deals with international organizations,” Amaro pointed out in an interview with ANC on Friday.

He further said that though marital affairs focus on logistics, cruises, and tourism, domestic trade is still an important aspect to take note of.

“So all the policies and programs emanate from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and we need to discuss it quite toughly with them, otherwise it’s going to affect our domestic trade,” he said.

Amaro did say that the trips he made benefitted the country.

“We are providing security for our seafarers because we should understand that there are a lot of countries who would want to get our position as the major providers of seafarers,” he added.

In the same interview, he admitted that he did have a total of 21 trips abroad, however, he stressed that all those travels were approved by the Department of Transportation (DOTr). In detail, he said that six out of 21 were sponsored by other countries, while the remaining were funded by the Philippine government.

DOTr, however, in a statement yesterday said, “The DOTr trusts that the President’s decision is just, fair, and unprejudiced as it was based on verifiable facts and a thorough investigation.”

The Transportation Department also said that they do not tolerate “corruption and excesses” in government.

In a letter dated December 21, the Alliance of the MARINA Employees (AME) addressed a letter to Duterte, calling Amaro an ‘absentee administrator.’ However, Amaro said in the interview that he met with the directors of AME on January 1, 2018, and he said that they denied sending such letter.

“It was received by the Palace at face value,” he added.

On Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to fire Amaro over his supposed junkets, in a press conference.

Amaro said that he had no prior knowledge of his dismissal until Roque made the announcement. He, however, said that he respects the President’s decision.