PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Valeriano Del Rosario, Daphne Ruby Grasparil, Patrick Sarmiento and Maria Francesca Bautista, VeraLaw
1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels The Philippines allows temporary registration of vessels. A Philippine national or corporation may bareboat-charter a foreign-flagged vessel, which may be registered with MARINA upon compli - ance with specific conditions. The vessel does not lose its original flag, but instead will be con - sidered Philippine registered and flagged for the duration of the charter. 1.6 Registration of Mortgages MARINA maintains the ship registry, and ship mortgages are annotated on the ship’s regis - try record. For a mortgage to be annotated by MARINA, the following documents should be submitted: • a letter of intent; • the mortgage contract, which has to be notarised; • proof of payment of documentary stamp tax; and • the original Certificate of Ownership and Cer - tificate of Vessel Registry. 1.7 Ship Ownership and Mortgages Registry These records and documents are available to the public; however, a letter of request has to be provided to and approved by MARINA before the information and documents are released. 2. Marine Casualties and Owners’ Liability 2.1 International Conventions: Pollution and Wreck Removal The Philippines is a signatory to the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Conven- tion.
spill response, containment and recovery capa - bilities against ship-based pollution”. 1.3 Domestic Legislation Applicable to Ship Registration By virtue of Presidential Executive Order No 125 and 125-A, as well as the Domestic Shipping Development Act of 2004 (RA 9295), the Mari - time Industry Authority (MARINA) was vested with the authority to handle the domestic reg - istration of vessels. The specific regulations on vessel registration are provided under MARINA Memorandum Circular No 2013-02. MARINA was vested with the authority to accredit, and issue certificates of public convenience to, domestic shipping operators to trade within the islands of the Philippine archipelago. 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels Prior to July 2021, only Philippine nationals or Philippine corporations that were at least 60% owned by Philippine nationals could own and register ships in the Philippines. However, the Act amending portions of the Public Service Act (RA 11659) was recently enacted by the Philip - pine Congress to lift such restrictions. For the implementation and application of this new law, MARINA will need to issue Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) to dismantle the decades- old restrictive rules and regulations. At the time of writing, MARINA has yet to issue such IRR, so the status quo has been maintained. A vessel under construction cannot be regis - tered with MARINA because a Builder’s Certifi - cate from a MARINA-accredited ship-yard has to be submitted to be issued a Certificate of Ownership.
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