BMI seeks to criminalize common maritime violations

An official of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) is urging lawmakers to draft a measure criminalizing common violations in sea transportation, saying administrative sanctions are not enough.

 “We keep on discovering the same old mistakes and errors of crews and shipping companies in our investigation of incidents. We in BMI believe legislation is necessary to prevent them,” BMI deputy chairman Commodore Benjamin Mata told reporters.

The official admitted the BMI, which is under the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), has limited power to enforce maritime laws since “we can only impose administrative sanctions – and not criminal penalties.” 

He further stressed: “This lack of criminal aspect in maritime laws is really the problem why violations with grave results are committed over and over again.”

Mata revealed his recommendation in the middle of the investigation on the cause of the sinking of MV Blue Water Princess off Quezon earlier this month, an incident that killed 11 people.

At the onset of the investigation, BMI officials said there were signs the crew of the roll-on, roll-off ferry committed negligence that could have contributed or led to the sinking of the vessel.

Virgilio Retardo, skipper of MV Blue Water Princess, admitted during the first hearing of BMI last week that he allowed passengers to board the roll-on, roll-off (RORO) ferry even if they were not listed in the official manifest and that his crew only used nylon cords to lash rolling cargos aboard the vessel.

Investigators have already discounted the possibility of overloading of passengers as cause of the sinking since the ferry had a capacity of 256 passengers and only 135 people were reportedly aboard the vessel.

President Arroyo earlier ordered BMI to speed up its investigation on the sinking of MV Blue Water Princess. She has directed investigators to submit its report by middle of August.

The MV Blue Water Princess, owned by AC-Joy Express Liner and operated by Blue Magic Ferries, sank off Quezon province last July 12. The roll-on, roll-off ferry reportedly left the Port of Lucena on Wednesday afternoon en route to Masbate, but ran aground at around 3 a.m. the next day after it encountered strong winds and huge waves.

Retardo earlier told Coast Guard officials he saw huge waves in their direction so he opted to turn to its side to hide at the Bondoc peninsula. At some 500 meters away from the island, the ship ran aground causing its hull to crack.

He claimed it was “purely an accident” and there was no miscalculation on his part.

Eleven casualties were earlier identified as: chief mate Rodolfo de la Fuente, ordinary seaman Wilgin Perlas, apprentice Daveson de Guzman, and passengers Nicanor and Leonila Arsipe, Gloria Deuda, Jean de Jesus, Cristina Labong, Lourdes Ricafranca, Maribel Mirallo and Lucena Arrizagada.