Philippine Merchant Maritime Academy Road Trip




The crisp Saturday morning greeted the group of four as they met at 8 am at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Malate, Manila. The group made up of Mr. Eisuke Kudo, Shinichi Ichikawa, Larry V. Gonzales (MET 2007) and Fedelyn A. Santos (MLP 2008) panned to go to the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy is San Narciso, Zambales in a road trip. With the whole trip the group passed through four (4) provinces, namely, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales. Along the way, some historical and important details were shared with Mr. Kudo and Mr. Ichikawa.


From Manila, the group went straight to the PMMA where they were welcomed by no less than the President of the Academy VADM FIDEL E DINOS assisted by his staff, Vice President John Leslie Romeo Benedictos, Assistant Training Director Myrna Alvarez (MET 2008), Training Data Controller Victoria Q. Paragua (SM 2009) and teh Executive Assistant in Academics Gilbert Boleche (PM 2009). An institutional Presentation was prepared followed by a short gift giving ceremony where Mr. Kudo and Mr. Ichikawa were each given PMMA jackets and pin. The short program was followed by a short but delectable lunch of seafood after which the group was toured around the Academy with the lively and entertainig Vice President Benedictos as the tour guide. During the tour the group were introduced to the several state of the art simulator that only the Academy possess in the Philipppines or maybe even in Asia. Impressed by how the Institution has successfullly functioned and produced highly trained seafarers at very limited budget, the group then proceeded to the PMMA Station inside the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to see where the cadets were given hands on experience in boat handling.


The group arrived back in Manila at around 8 pm but still with smiles on their faces after a full day and said their good byes because Mr. Kudo and Mr. Ichikawa were leaving the next day back to Japan.






Contributed by:
Fedelyn A. Santos (MLP 2008) and
Larry V. Gonzales (MET 2007)