A third generation mariner who comes from a family of educators has concocted the perfect recipe for his diversified talents. After spending 20-plus years in the U.S. Navy and two more sailing aboard deep sea vessels for the SIU, Bernabe S. Pelingon in 1999 became an instructor at the union’s affiliated Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education in Piney Point, Md. Becoming a maritime instructor, in his estimation, has translated into the fulfillment of his destiny.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a position to help people,” said Pelingon, a husband and father of two daughters. “Rendering assistance to others has always been something I wanted to do, and being here (at the Paul Hall Center) as a maritime instructor provides me with the ideal way of doing it.”
Pelingon, who still sails on SIU-contracted vessels, currently serves as the deck department’s lead instructor for able seamen. He teaches various deck department courses, including lifeboat/water survival, specially trained ordinary seaman and basic safety training/STCW. So far, Pelingon has achieved a 100 percent passing rate for students in the subject areas of: deck and marlinespike seamanship, cargo handling, navigation, shiphandling, rules of the road and deck safety.
Born in the Philippines, Pelingon is a natural for the classroom. “I come from a family of many educators,” he shared. “My mother, sisters, uncles as well as other relatives all are or were educators in the Philippines. At some point in their careers, most of them have been associated with seafarers because in the Philippines you either work on the farm or you work at sea. These are the two largest professions back home, but I knew I did not want to be a full-time farmer.”
Pelingon attended the Iloilo Maritime Academy in the Philippines where he earned an associate’s degree in Nautical Science and a bachelor’s in Marine Transportation. He also received his third mate’s license (unlimited foreign).
Pelingon enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1977. After serving for 20 years as quartermaster first class, earning numerous decorations along the way and attending a myriad of military training schools, he retired and began contemplating second career options. While a number of professions attracted his interests, his hands-down favorite was the merchant marine.
“I attended a job fair in Norfolk, Va., where I met representatives of the SIU,” Pelingon said. “I talked to them about joining the SIU because, based on past experiences, I already knew what was happening with the merchant marines and it was nothing new to me. I guess I really was born one (a merchant mariner).”
In 1997, Pelingon was accepted for the veteran’s program at Piney Point. “I was the first veteran in the program that year,” he recalled. “Once aboard, I upgraded in all areas of the deck department and then began shipping out.”
Completely satisfied with his second career, Pelingon soon began thinking of ways to spread the good news about the merchant marine and the SIU to others. When not shipping, he thought it might benefit the union as well as military veterans if he attended Navy Transition and Separation Programs in Norfolk and introduced job seekers to the transportation industry.
“My idea was well-received, partly because I had access into the Navy’s personnel system, knew how it worked and was a retired military ID card holder,” he said. “I started speaking during seminars, sharing my personal experiences and giving various presentations on behalf of the merchant marine. We appealed to the interests of several hundred of people who later came into the SIU under the vets program.”
In addition to being a volunteer recruiter, Pelingon helps enlist instructors and serves as a peer tutor and mentor for upgraders at the Paul Hall Center, some of whom have English as a second language.
When asked to share his guiding philosophy on life, Pelingon said, “Take care of people, they are your most valuable asset. Help them, for they may find it hard not to help you when you’re the one in need.”
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