Data that does not add up, ships that save and the curious efficiency of the Provincial Directorate. In the offices of the Provincial Directorate of the Social Marine Institute (ISM) in Las Palmas, the air seems denser than usual. The recent report from December 2025, which Canarymaritime has accessed regarding the audits of the years 2023 and 2024, has revealed that, amid the ebb and flow of waves and files, accounting and employment management have leaks that are difficult to cover with institutional rhetoric.
The Court of Auditors raised the alarm over a Temporary Disability (IT) subsidy from Asepeyo between December 1 and 2, 2024. On paper, this could have conflicted with subsidies for individuals over 52 years old. But the Provincial Directorate of Las Palmas has taken out the stopwatch: it turns out that this delegated payment from Asepeyo occurred while the worker was still with their company and, crucially, twelve days before their unemployment subsidy was resumed (on December 14). By just a week and a half, the case has been saved from the fire.
The Mystery of the Accounts in Las Palmas
One of the most glaring points of the audit is found in the management of cessation of activity benefits for marine freelancers (CATA). The Court has detected an anomaly that borders on the esoteric: in the Provincial Directorate of Las Palmas, there are beneficiaries with an amount of ‘zero’ during the year 2023. For auditors, this is not just a simple rounding error but an ‘inconsistency’ that casts doubt on the veracity and consistency of all the information reported by the Microstrategy system of the ISM in the province. It is, in plain terms, the trace of an administrative ghost that charges but does not perceive, or that appears but does not exist.
Employment Policies: An ‘Empty Shell’ at the Dock
If we look at the ground level of labor integration, the narrative becomes even more biting. Despite the strategic importance of the port, the report reveals that in Las Palmas (as in other provinces), no real labor integration actions were carried out. There were no reception of offers, placement of applicants, or follow-up to promote employment. The office was limited to being an ‘administrative registration’ counter, delegating the dirty work to the Canary Employment Service through the SISPECAN application. Basically, the ISM in Las Palmas has been managing unemployment but forgetting to manage employment.
The Asepeyo Factor and ‘Green’ Sustainability
However, not everything is shadows. In the chapter on sustainability — that which is so favored in SEO headlines — the ISM boasts a management that mixes energy efficiency with mutual collaboration. The report highlights that the ISM has delegated part of its service management to entities like Asepeyo, especially regarding the management of temporary disability and other professional contingencies in the maritime sector.
However, the most curious mention related to efficiency in Las Palmas appears in the savings measures: while paper consumption was cut (from 1,065 packages to 805) and bulbs were replaced with LEDs, the great savings came from the sea. The ISM managed to drastically reduce the fuel consumption of the vessel ‘Esperanza del Mar’, based in the Gran Canaria port, a measure that has been key for the institution to obtain its carbon footprint certificate in March 2024.
Much LED and Little Control
The diagnosis from the Court of Auditors for Las Palmas is clear: very efficient at changing fluorescents and optimizing the hospital ship’s gas oil, but ISM fails in the control of benefits and in the transparency of data. Dependence on the SEPE to know who is paid and how much (the ISM lacks its own database of beneficiaries) creates a ‘gap’ that prevents any serious control. The ‘superior interest’ seems to have been more focused on the carbon footprint than on preventing cases with a zero amount from continuing to taint official statistics.
Mutua Balear and the ‘Ghost’ Records
More curious is the case with the Mutua Balear. The Court reported a subsidy between April and May 2024, but after consulting the eSIL system, Las Palmas responds that, although the period is ‘mechanized’, it does not record that a single euro has been paid. In other words, there exists a record of the process, but not a trace of the money. A system error that, once again, allows the ISM to wash its hands of the irregularity accusation.
News written by Gara Vega. Edited and verified by José L. Jiménez. Information cross-checked without institutional filters. This analysis has not been financed by official advertising nor conditioned by lobbying interests.
