What My First Year with PASLCI Taught Me

When I look back at my first year with the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Center Inc. (PASLCI), I realize that the journey taught me much more than I expected. I began PASLCI with a clear purpose: to continue serving the country after retirement by contributing my experience to the implementation and operationalization of the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes.

But along the way, I discovered that building an organization is also a journey of personal discovery.

The first year gave me lessons about people, leadership, relationships, credibility, partnership, and, ultimately, service.

1. A Good Idea Needs People

The idea of advancing the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes had been with me even before retirement. My experience as a member of a technical working group in 2017 and later as Chairman of the Multi-Sectoral Governing Council of the Maritime Safety Services Command led me to think deeply about what would be required to translate the law into actual implementation.

But an idea, no matter how compelling, remains only an idea when carried by one person.

I learned that a vision becomes a mission when people believe in it, challenge it, improve it, and eventually carry it with you.

PASLCI became possible because people were willing to believe.

2. Institutions Are Built Through Relationships

I spent most of my career in organizations where structure, rank, and command were clearly defined. PASLCI taught me another kind of institution-building.

Relationships matter.

A phone call can open a door. A friendship can create an opportunity. A conversation over coffee can lead to a partnership. A former colleague can connect you to someone who can help.

Many of PASLCI’s opportunities came through relationships built over decades of maritime service.

I learned that relationships are the invisible infrastructure of institutions. They must be nurtured with trust, respect, consistency, and sincerity.

3. Credibility Cannot Be Demanded; It Must Be Earned

Retirement taught me this very personally.

In uniform, people knew my rank and position. After retirement, those things were left behind.

At PASLCI, I had to establish credibility again—not through rank, but through the quality of our work.

We had to produce sound research, develop credible policy proposals, engage stakeholders, and demonstrate that we could contribute something meaningful.

I learned that credibility cannot be demanded because of one’s past. It must be earned every day through competence, integrity, consistency, and results.

4. Maritime Governance Cannot Be Owned by One Agency

The more we studied the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes, the clearer this became.

The PASL is not simply a matter of navigation. It touches maritime safety, security, environmental protection, search and rescue, vessel traffic management, hydrography, fisheries, transportation, diplomacy, national security, and international maritime obligations.

No single government agency can address all these dimensions.

The sea does not recognize organizational boundaries.

Our approach to the sea should not either.

This reinforced my belief in a whole-of-nation approach, where government, academe, industry, maritime professionals, and other stakeholders contribute to a common national maritime agenda.

5. Policy Advocacy Must Be Supported by Technical Knowledge

Another important lesson was that advocacy alone is not enough.

It is easy to say what should be done.

The harder questions are: How will it be done? Who will do it? What technology is required? How much will it cost? What laws must be harmonized? How will it be sustained?

Our experience in pursuing the Vessel Traffic Management System feasibility study reinforced this lesson.

Good maritime policy must be technically sound, legally defensible, operationally practical, and financially sustainable.

PASLCI must therefore continue to combine advocacy with research and technical expertise.

6. Partnerships Multiply Capability

PASLCI started small.

We did not have unlimited resources or a large organization.

What we had were partners.

Government institutions provided access and institutional perspectives. Academe provided knowledge. Industry provided operational experience. International partners brought technical expertise and global perspectives. Maritime professionals contributed decades of experience.

Each partnership expanded what PASLCI could accomplish.

I learned that partnership is not simply about signing agreements. Real partnership multiplies capability.

7. Experience Should Not Retire

This may be one of the lessons closest to my heart.

After decades in the maritime service, I realized that retirement should not mean that all the knowledge and experience accumulated over a lifetime simply disappear.

Every command, operation, crisis, negotiation, and difficult decision leaves behind lessons.

That experience is a national resource.

But it becomes truly valuable only when it is shared.

I believe PASLCI can help transform the experience of retired maritime professionals into research, policy recommendations, mentoring, capacity building, and institutional memory.

8. Retirement Can Become Another Form of Service

When I retired, I said:

“I had retired from the service, but I had not retired from public service.”

PASLCI gave meaning to those words.

I learned that public service does not end when government employment ends.

It can continue through research.

Through advocacy.

Through mentoring.

Through policy dialogue.

Through bringing people together.

Through simply asking, “What can I still do for my country?”

Retirement gave me the freedom to pursue that question.

9. The Voyage Is Bigger Than the Individual

Perhaps the greatest lesson is that PASLCI cannot and should not depend on one person.

I may have helped set the initial course, but the voyage belongs to everyone who has contributed to it.

The founding directors, members, administrative staff, government partners, maritime experts, industry, academe, international partners, supporters, and families have all become part of the journey.

If PASLCI is to become an enduring institution, its mission must outlive its founders.

That is the real test.

The Voyage Continues

Looking back, I realize that the first year was never simply about what PASLCI accomplished.

It was about what the journey taught us.

Ideas need people.

Institutions need relationships.

Credibility must be earned.

Maritime governance requires collaboration.

Policy needs technical substance.

Partnerships multiply capability.

Experience should be shared.

And retirement can become another chapter of service.

The uniform may have come off. The rank may have been left behind.

But the sea remains.

The country remains.

And the mission continues.

The voyage has just begun.

References

1. United Nations. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Part IV: Archipelagic States. Articles 46–54. 
2. International Maritime Organization (IMO). Ships’ Routeing. Framework for traffic separation schemes, routeing measures, and international navigational safety. 
3. International Maritime Organization (IMO). Resolution A.858(20): Procedure for the Adoption and Amendment of Traffic Separation Schemes, Routeing Measures Other Than Traffic Separation Schemes, Including Designation and Substitution of Archipelagic Sea Lanes, and Ship Reporting Systems. 
4. International Maritime Organization (IMO). LEG/MISC.8: Implications of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for the International Maritime Organization. 
5. International Maritime Organization (IMO). Vessel Traffic Services. SOLAS framework and IMO guidance for VTS. 
6. U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). Philippines: Vessel Traffic Management System Feasibility Study. Current project description and scope. 
7. U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). USTDA, Philippines Partner on Maritime Safety. 1 March 2024.