Maritime woman: Merle San Pedro

One lady who is making the rounds of the country’s maritime industry today is Merle Jimenez-San Pedro, chair of the Movement for Maritime Philippines (MMP). Encouraged by the election commitment of President Rodrigo Duterte to give attention to the maritime industry, Merle and the MMP are zealously promoting the adoption of a National Maritime Agenda (NMA), which will serve as the blueprint for achieving inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth in the country through the maritime industry.

San Pedro’s engagement in the industry comes through the family-run Mariners’ Polytechnic Training Center Inc. (MPTCI) in Manila and the Mariners’ Polytechnic Colleges Foundation (MPCF) located in the Bicol region, where she holds the positions of president and executive vice-president, respectively. Her assuming top positions at these two educational facilities dedicated to providing maritime education and upgrading courses to the male-dominated merchant marine corps should not be construed that the proverbial “breaking the glass ceiling” has finally been achieved in this country. A self-driven “woman in maritime,” San Pedro took the posts not as a matter of course for the Jimenez-run maritime institutes; rather, her academic and educational qualifications, and her management skills and exposure to the industry make her well-equipped in running the operations of MPTCI and MPCF.