Oh, say can you sea?

MANILA, Philippines - When you live in a country with 7,000 islands and one of the highest number of maritime workers and shipbuilders in the world, chances are, you'll learn to shake off your sea legs before you can even walk. Call it natural selection, a matter of survival, like fish to water. But why is it that despite our huge seafaring potentials, we cannot bring its success closer to our shores?

“The biggest thing really is the stigma. They think it’s for ‘mayaman’,” explained local maritime enthusiast and boat builder Angelo Olondriz. And to dispel this, Olondriz, together with the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (EDDP), pulls the anchor on the country’s first and only nautical lifestyle expo, the SEA-EX 2015 at the SMX Convention Center, in the hopes of proving that the sea is indeed for all Filipinos.

The calm, sunny shores of Nasugbu may not readily show signs of troubled waters, but its stillness certainly encourages curiosity. Despite the resorts dotting the area, only one provides convenient access to the welcoming Batangas Sea. In Punta Fuego’s 30-berth dock, home to million-dollar speedboats, yachts, and sailboats, Olondriz and his co-organizers tried to spread their gospel of inclusive maritime industry growth.  

“When the guys behind Punta Fuego decided to build this, it was an unheard- of concept. They took the chance of building a marina, and the marina complemented everything else they had. And they were hitting the targets of occupancy. They hit a three-year target in just a year and a half. And that just goes to show that if you build it, they will come,” enthused Olondriz while walking us through its steel wharf.

Aboard the posh, 35-million-peso Lagoon 500 catamaran, SEA-EX tried to prove that growth in the maritime industry is for everyone, rich or poor. “When you ride a ferry to go to Bohol, it’s a part of this industry. When you go on a banca to get across Mindoro, that is a part of this industry. When you go out to a dive site in Anilao, it is a part of this industry, ” Olondriz remarked.

Angelo Olondriz had been christened Don Quixote by some of his peers, manning the seven-year old exposition year after year, and calling for the same tide of change every time. Once a maritime hobbyist earning his fins in Batangas’ Tali Beach, Olondriz is now in the business of custom-made boats, making 35 handmade and high-end sea crafts annually. He should’ve been in a comfortable spot, where he can ditch his shoes, kick back, and sail off into the sunset. But it’s not really what we had in mind.

“While many boat distributors are all focusing on doing better, at some point, we might hit the wall, that where do we put all these things,” Olondriz posited. “There are plenty of coastal developments that are being done with zero facilities for water. You’re getting hundreds of hectares building this huge thing, but nothing for water. Right now, it’s still so inaccessible,” he added.

In his view, European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) general manager Martial Beck sees this as a great waste. “There are skills, a natural affinity for the sea that is not used. Everything that has to do with the sea in the Philippines is all natural because there’s already an ancestral heritage behind it,” he said.

By now, Europa Yachts’ managing director, and our ship’s captain Robin Wyatt raises the sail of the 50 ft. long, four-cabin catamaran. Wyatt spent much of his time dealing his Beneteau and Azimuth yachts in Hong Kong’s more affluent marinas and now he set his seafaring eyes on what he thinks is as a port country brimming with potential. His company now enjoys remarkable demand, 90 percent of which are from wealthy Filipino patrons. But Wyatt believes we can do more.

“Every single country in Asia is looking at marine tourism and expanding their maritime industries, and we’re lagging behind. We know the solution. We just don’t know what the problem is,” Wyatt noted.

With countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam funneling government resources and competitive tax-cuts in support of their maritime industries, these emerging economies all enjoy multi-level growths that span the seaside markets of tourism, manufacturing, hospitality, and servicing.

“Look at how much money they make in revenue. If you lower or waive taxes, then the guys running dive resorts can invest in a nicer, safer boat. It’s a means to an end. You’ll lose a little taxes in the beginning, but the revenues that you get from tourism later on surpasses what you can get from these little taxes,” Olondriz hinted.

We have sailed off the Batangas peninsula and into the deep blue, the waves still relatively quiet, and the winds giving the sails the much-needed steer. Olondriz and Wyatt took turns manning the wheel, but in a relatively calm and quiet day like this one, there wasn’t really much captaining needed. What needs to be directed, however, is the attention in a great void in the industry that we’re supposed to be dominating elsewhere in the world.

“Our sailors are good. Everywhere in the world, all sea crafts, big or small, are being manned by Filipinos. I find it sad that our seamen come home and become taxi drivers. Why? They’ve been sweating out there, and they come home and where do they ply their trade? They can command good salaries on-board around the world, why can’t we create that for them here? Let’s create industries that our guys can come home to,” Olondriz suggested.

Chances are, our offshore maritime workers will be coming home to our seaports opening wide for the trumpeted ASEAN Integration this year. Given this, what can our archipelago bring to the table?

“Some European boat manufacturers will see a huge market in the ASEAN, and the Philippines can serve as an anchor, because it will be cheaper and more competitive. It is so obvious for me that it is such a strategic location,” reminded ECCP’s Martial Beck. With this in mind, the SEA-EX 2015 will feature key players in the European boating industries all addressing the concerns for maritime competitiveness. “We will have knowledgeable people who will share all their experiences of how other countries have done it before,” Beck quipped.

“The idea is, we have a jewel here, but that jewel is not used. We can start putting in some things that will catalyze the whole maritime industry, starting with the boats, then the marina, then build a village around it, and then you can have a hotel, a restaurant. There are so many things that can be done. I want the Philippines to capture this opportunity and not let it go somewhere else,” he added.

On the other hand, for Olondriz, more than the good business it entails, the realization of a strong and stable maritime industry is a heritage, a birthright, the main hull of what it is to be a Filipino given a long history of balangays and galleon trades.

“More than a boat show, it has become an advocacy to help the Philippines become what it should be. We’re trying to get the word out using the boat shows, the conference as the medium to try to get the government, the people, our neighbors in Asia to see that, hey, we are open for business,” he said.

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The 7th SEA-EX nautical exposition will run from February 20-22, 2015 at the Hall 1 & 2 of the SMX Convention Center. For more information, visit their website at www.seaex.ph.