GMA rescues stranded Nenaco passengers

Actually, I had my misgivings about the pre-emptive grounding by Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) administrator Oscar Sevilla of several Negros Navigation passenger ships. Because it was implemented without prior notice, it inevitably created confusion among passengers, thus stranding thousands of them.

Well, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had to personally untangle Sevilla’s mess when she asked Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza to make Sevilla rescind his order grounding Nenaco vessels.

That saved the 12,000 Luzon participants in the recently concluded Commission on Higher Education Palarong Pambansa from being stranded. This could have posed a major headache to the host local government who would have had to feed them had they stayed longer in the city while arrangements were being made for their transport home.

Actually, it was Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) who brought the matter to the attention of the President. The President then called up Mendoza to get in touch with Sevilla.

But some 100 athletes from Region 1 had already boarded other vessels last Wednesday. Participants from the National Capital Region opted to fly out from Bacolod after they were refunded their Nenaco tickets, according to Nenaco assistant president Angelito Salvio.

Gian Galvez of Nenaco admitted that it was Puentevella who managed to convince the President to intervene to solve the problems of the stranded passengers.

St. Peter the Apostle left Manila at 9 a.m. Wednesday to ferry back 1,200 athletes who had pre-paid round-trip tickets. St. Joseph the Worker left Manila for Bacolod at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Puentevella had a dialogue with the stranded athletes and Nenaco port employees last Wednesday afternoon at the Banago Port and updated them on the developments. Puentevella also asked the workers to postpone their protest action against Marina, pointing out that it would not solve the problem.

There erupted a major furor over the Marina’s action against Nenaco. Negrenses questioned Sevilla’s summary action grounding the shipping firm’s vessels without giving prior notice to the riding public who could have shied away from buying tickets.

Instead, the immediate implementation of the pre-emptive order placed passengers in a difficult situation. More than 20,000 passengers were affected by the sudden grounding of trips to Palawan, Tagbilaran, Roxas and Bacolod, among others.

It was bedlam in the Nenaco booking office in downtown Bacolod as passengers jostled with one another to seek refunds for their tickets. Fifty of them were refused refunds, while 100 more were asked to return at noon the following day.

Nenaco officials decried the grounding order based on claims that the company was unable to maintain its operations. Neither was the grounding reportedly due to safety issues.

Even Jun Taguid, the receiver appointed by the rehabilitation court, disputed Marina’s computation that Nenaco had a capital deficiency of P1.5 billion.

Nenaco’s obligations, he said, should not be considered as current since the company was prohibited by the court from making any payments for its outstanding liabilities.

In short, Nenaco still has a working capital of P727.32 million with no capital deficiency, stressed a company spokesman.

The President may have controlled the damage, but Sevilla must be made to answer for his controversial move. In short, the very agency which should enforce the rule that public service firms should serve their clients or face several penalties, was the very agency that could have crippled such a firm like Nenaco.

Death Of A Saintly Columban Priest

Negrenses were shocked to learn on Wednesday about the death of 65-year-old Fr. Niall O’Brien, a Columban missionary who had spent more years in the province than anywhere else.

Fr. O’Brien reportedly fell off his wheelchair and his forehead hit the floor. He underwent emergency treatment but hours later he lapsed into coma.

For many in Negros Occidental, Fr. O’Brien was a familiar and beloved figure. He was a member of the famous Negros Nine, which included Fr. Brian Gore, the more controversial figure. In what was described as the trial of the century which grabbed the attention of the international community, he and his co-accused were charged by the former Marcos regime with having allegedly conspired in the death of Kabankalan mayor Pablo Sola.

Despite his ordeal, Fr. O’Brien never harbored grudges against his accusers nor developed any bias against Negrenses. Instead, he spent more years among his people.

He returned briefly to Ireland following a rare blood disease. He then wrote his first book, Revolution from the Heart. It was a spiritual reflection on the more than two decades he spent here in Negros Island.

Later, O’Brien wrote another book, Island of Tears, Island of Hope. It was about the Church’s mission in Negros, highlighting the heroic role of the late Bacolod Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich for whom Fr. O’Brien had great admiration.

Two years ago, he invited my son, Jun-Jun, to dinner in Dublin, Ireland and informed him that what he was suffering from was aphasic anemia and not leukemia.

Although sickly, Fr. O’Brien returned to the Philippines and resumed writing for a local daily. Later, he sent his columns from Pisa, Italy. That’s where he died Wednesday.

Fr. O’Brien’s mother died only last year. His father died two years ago. His only sister, Niamb, died in 1984. He is survived by two older brothers, Terry and Fergus.

Fr. O’Brien was a close personal friend of my late wife and I. Like most Negrenses, I shall miss his smile and his Ilonggo.