Today is the 40th day of the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, a maritime tragedy that led to the death of about 800 passengers. An unknown number of bodies remain stuck inside the ship, along with several toxic cargoes, and the ship is still visible just a few meters off the shorelines of Sibuyan Island, its hull sticking out of the funereal, otherworldly calmness of the sea. For several weeks now, our office has been participating in the congressional inquiry on the disaster.
If the congressional inquiry has led to anything, it is this: a tragedy of that magnitude couldn’t have been an act of God or fate. Ignore the grandstanding of legislators who could only think in terms of soundbites. Some questions that were raised during the hearing actually point to the root of the disaster, and they tell us that the archipelago is actually littered with floating coffins.
For instance, why are roll-on, roll-off (Ro-ro) ships like the MV Princess of the Stars being used in the Philippines when in fact they are not suitable for open seas? Evidence points to the fact that Ro-ros are among the most dangerous ships to use for navigation. They are strictly regulated in other countries: they can’t sail for more than 10 miles, are only allowed to sail in inland waters, and only if they are near the shoreline. It is not appropriate for the wave height of open seas even under normal weather, so just imagine how difficult it was to steer MV Princess of the Stars when it was already in the middle of the storm. Compared to other types of sea vessels, Ro-ros sink fast because of its design; survivors of the recent tragedy all said that the ship sank fifteen minutes after the ship’s master issued his abandon call.
The other issue is regulation: for an archipelago, the Philippines’ maritime policies are implemented by several different entities, each one with unclear functions and each one more than willing to blame dead ship masters. Sulpicio, the shipping lines that owns the MV Princess of the Stars, got away with its culpability over four major maritime disasters because of this policy ambiguity and loopholes in laws on maritime safety standards.
The Philippine Coast Guard, equally culpable for the tragedy because it actually has the mandate to police maritime safety standards, is also blaming the ship’s master, claiming that ultimately it is the call of the captain whether or not the ship should sail. It has also been pounding on the country’s weather bureau, PAG-ASA, for allegedly providing a false forecast. What it has failed to say is that its own rules require the Coast Guard to practice extra diligence in implementing safety standards, and this includes plotting the danger sector to define where the typhoon is headed in the next 48 hours and preventing any ship from sailing into that area. It is true that typhoon Frank suddenly changed its direction, but MV Princess of the Stars should not have been in the typhoon’s vicinity had the Coast Guard plotted the danger sector and prevented the ship from sailing.
Marina, the agency given the mandate for the development of the country’s maritime industry, is horribly incompetent: it approves permits for shipping lines, yet it has no Masters or experienced ship captions who have the actual experience to determine if the ships plying our waters are safe. Meanwhile, the coordinating body for these various agencies is under the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) headed by an English graduate; she sat on an agency’s report and recommendations on the sinking of a different ship simply because of its “atrocious English”. Experts claim that had her unit acted on the recommendations, it could have prevented the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars.
While these agencies are blaming each other and the dead for the tragedy, the survivors and the families of the victims could only air out their grief and anger. We met some of them this morning, before they filed a civil suit before the Manila trial court. One of them, Levy, lost a relative; he had to climb a tower beside Sulpicio’s office to compel the shipping lines to act on their demand that the relatives be brought to Cebu so that they could identify the recovered bodies. Another one, Precious, lost 21 relatives, all of whom were to go to Cebu for a family reunion.
Others haven’t found their loved ones yet. One of them told the congressional panel that she is willing to visit each and every island where bodies have been found if only to find the body of her parents.
In one of the congressional hearings, Mr. Jordan Go, Vice-President for marketing of Sulpicio Lines, said that they have offered P200,000 to relatives for each missing or dead passenger. He claimed that they are giving out the money out of their company’s sense of social responsibility.
Yet for each financial package, the relatives were asked to sign a quitclaim, which in effect binds them against filing legal charges against Sulpicio. Some of them knowingly took the money and signed the waiver; how else could they have the resources to search for their loved ones? It is not without guilt that they took the bait; the greater tragedy, perhaps, is that after losing their loved ones, they, too, need to survive, and survive on their own.
But what is P200,000? One of them said that she almost broke down inside a mall when she realized that Sulpicio has pegged the worth of her sibling’s life to the price of a flat TV. She took the money, for sure, but she was the first to file a civil case against the shipping lines.
In a senseless tragedy like the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, only justice could give closure to the relatives of the victims of the tragedy. Only the merciless pursuit of justice – no compromises – can give them peace.
SHARE IT IF YOU LIKE IT!
