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The Maritime Industry Authority has renewed its push for bills that aim to improve the country’s ship registry and modernize the ship building and ship repair (SBSR) industry to be certified as priority measures for the 20th Congress
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MARINA has submitted these bills to its mother agency, Department of Transportation, and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, for consideration in the list of the current administration’s priority measures
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Currently, there are already five bills filed in the House of Representatives with the same goal of the expanding and modernizing the shipyards, SBSR, and ship recycling industries in the Philippines, and only one bill so far to improve the country’s ship registry system
The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) has renewed its push for bills that aim to improve the country’s ship registry and modernize the ship building and ship repair (SBSR) industry to be certified as priority measures for the 20th Congress.
MARINA has submitted these bills to its mother agency, Department of Transportation, and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, for consideration in the list of the current administration’s priority measures, MARINA administrator Sonia Malaluan told PortCalls in an interview at the sidelines of the recent press briefing for the 26th National Maritime Week.
A priority stamp from President Ferdinand R. Marcos will speed up the passage of a bill in Congress.
READ: MARINA to “aggressively” push passage of ship registry, shipbuilding bills in next Congress
The SBSR Development Bill aims to employ a whole-of-government approach to create a policy environment conducive for the overall development of the industry, while the SBSR Fiscal Incentives Bill aims to amend the country’s fiscal policy to provide companies incentives to invest in the SBSR industry.
The Philippine International Ship Registration Bill and Philippine International Shipping Fiscal Incentives Bill, meanwhile, aim to establish the Philippines as a leading maritime nation and a respected flag state by providing a competitive regulatory environment that attracts vessel owners to register their ships under the Philippine flag.
Currently, there are already five bills filed in the House of Representatives with the same goal of expanding and modernizing the shipyards, SBSR, and ship recycling industries in the Philippines, and only one bill so far to improve the country’s ship registry system.
In particular, Malaluan earlier said MARINA is in close coordination with 1Tahanan Party List representative Nathaniel Oducado, who filed House Bill (HB) No. 2597, or the Shipyard Fiscal Incentives Act of 2025, and HB 2598, or the SBSR Development Act of 2025.
Ilocos Norte 2nd district representative Angelo Barba and Oriental Mindoro 1st district representative Arnan Panaligan also filed HB Nos. 1718 and 134, respectively, both titled the Shipbuilding Development Act of 2025. Trabaho Party List representative Johanne Monich Bautista also filed HB 4438, or the Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Act of 2025.
For ship registry, Barba also filed HB 1761 or the Philippine Ship registry System Act.
Currently, all bills on SBSR development are pending with the Lower House Committee on Trade and Industry while the fiscal incentives bill is with the Committee on Ways and Means, and the ship registry bill with the Committee on Transportation.
Malaluan earlier said these bills are being prioritized as they will provide “more impact” to the economy and will enable other programs and projects in MARINA’s Maritime Industry Development Plan 2028, a whole-of-nation roadmap for the integrated development and strategic direction of the maritime industry.
Last August, MARINA conducted stakeholders’ forums to push for and gather support for the passage of the SBSR development and ship registry bills. Manifestos of support for the bills were also signed by various stakeholders during the forums.
For the past years, the Philippines has been recognized as one of the top shipbuilding nations in the world but based on MARINA’s assessment, 66% of the country’s 408 shipyard facilities need rehabilitation.
READ: PH shipyards build 4% more vessels in 2024
Of the total, 95% of shipyards do local repair and maintenance and only 5% conduct shipbuilding for the export market and these are mostly large and foreign-owned yards. Majority of Class B and C shipyards in the country are also outdated and underfunded.
MARINA said the SBSR development and fiscal incentives bills, when enacted, will jumpstart the maritime industry by unlocking capital investment in SBSR and driving sustainable growth across related sectors.
According to estimates by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank, each direct job in shipbuilding creates three to five more indirect jobs, meaning that once fully-implemented, these bills have the potential to generate up to 100,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide.
Moreover, MARINA said a developed SBSR industry will bolster the domestic shipping sector’s capacity to support agriculture, manufacturing, national defense and inter-island trade. It will also enhance disaster resilience and national food and supply chain security.
Despite being an archipelagic and maritime nation, the Philippines currently only has 98 ships registered under the Philippine flag, with only one owned by a Filipino national, marking a steep decline from 430 registered ships in 1989, of which 30 were Filipino-owned.
MARINA said the absence of a comprehensive Philippine International Ship Registry law has created a systemic crisis that fundamentally undermines the country’s maritime competitiveness and threatens its economic potential.
MARINA said the Ship Registry Bill will accelerate maritime growth and innovation by fundamentally transforming the sector through digital modernization and international integration.
The comprehensive incentive package under the Philippine International Shipping Fiscal Incentives Bill, meanwhile, particularly the tonnage tax option and special corporate income tax rate, would allow Philippine shipping companies to compete on equal footing with major maritime nations.– Roumina Pablo
