THE MARITIME LEAGUE at PHILMARINE SMX
by ML Editorial Team

The Maritime League has participated the PHILMARINE conferences and exhibitions organized by Fireworks since 2014. If not for the pandemic, we would have had 2 more actual participations at the SMX Conference Center at the Mall of Asia.

Our participation includes running a booth, manned by a representative to answer questions from current or potential members, and a looping PowerPoint presentation onscreen about the Maritime League’s mission, its officers and trustees, and the Maritime Review which is published every two months, or six issues per year.

It would take us about 8 meetings during a span of four months just to prepare for our PHILMARINE conference day. We would set up a time table, and assign potential speakers and topics following that schedule. Getting the speakers to confirm their participation was the biggest hurdle we had to surmount. We also helped Fireworks sell tickets to the conference.

Prior to the pandemic, we had featured representatives from the U.S. Embassy, the Russian Embassy, maritime scholars from academic institutions, shipping magnates, a former President, high ranking military officers, and leaders of government agencies like DENR, NAMRI, DOTr, BFAR, PESA, SONAME, MARINA to share their views on a specific maritime situation, and going forward.

The last day of the conference was always reserved for the swearing in of the new Maritime League members, and the official announcement of the new set of officers and trustees. The departing officers and trustees are given a plaque in gratitude for their contribution of time and effort to support the Maritime League.

At the outset, we had earnestly just wanted help the PHILMARINE conference and exhibition become a successful maritime venue. But what turned out was unexpected. It was actually the PHILMARINE conference that strengthened the bonds between and among our officers, staff, and long-time members. We so looked forward to our annual maritime conference at SMX which became our main flagship activity annually.

As early birds, we would all meet up at the coffee shop at SMX and have our breakfast and coffee together. Anyone would be able to easily tell that we were a tight group, and most of all, we were happy to be with each other, at work and at play... golf was our favored sport.

Outside the conference room, we once had a passenger ship on display, manufactured in the Philippines by Commodore Shipping. We would also have another exhibit of large concrete mixers and small ship engines by Solanda enterprises.

During these past 2 years (2000-2001) amidst the pandemic, the PHILMARINE conferences were held virtually. We hosted speakers from DENR as well as PCG at separate maritime forums. Zoom became the best set-up everyone had suddenly become an expert on. It brings peace of mind that health and safety standards are met. But it’s not the same as the actual face-to-face conference we always looked forward to at SMX every year.

Here’s hoping this pandemic ends soon so we can once again hold our PHILMARINE Conference at SMX. Until that time comes to fruition, we hope to see you via Zoom.

The Maritime League Team