Sulpicio blames Pagasa

MANILA, Philippines – “Buanga ning Pagasa, pataka lang  (Pagasa is crazy, it is only guessing)!”

Nestor Ponteros, Sulpicio Lines Inc.’s port officer in Cebu, said this was the last message received by the SLI office in Cebu from Florencio Marimon Sr., the captain of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars, just before 7 a.m. of June 21.

Marimon is still missing.

The last communication was received just before the 23,000-gross tonnage passenger vessel capsized off Sibuyan Island in Romblon last Saturday.

Because of this, SLI is reportedly planning to file charges against the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), according to legal counsel Arthur Lim.

Lim refused to divulge the company’s plans but said they would make an announcement on Monday after they have filed the case.  “We are just studying all the possible angles and that is an option.”

He said the government’s weather bureau reportedly committed “gross incompetence and negligence. Pagasa brought about this unfortunate tragedy.”

SLI meanwhile said yesterday that they would fast-track the payments to the legal heirs of the passengers who perished or are still missing in the ferry tragedy.

In a one-page statement, Lim said Sulpicio would cut the waiting time from one year to a week, “if we can deliver the check in one or two days so much the better.”

He added that they would no longer wait for the authorities to retrieve the bodies before they hand out the P200,000 check. If all the 724 passengers were victims, the SLI would be spending P144 million.

In yesterday’s hearing before the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI), Lim told the seven-man body that the unfortunate event was caused by Pagasa “because it failed to disseminate the change in the course of typhoon ‘Frank’ from 11 p.m. of June 20, three hours after the vessel left.”

He added that Pagasa disseminated the information the first time at 6 a.m. on June 21 but failed to inform the ship when the storm changed course and allegedly did not coordinate with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

Lim also appealed to the BMI to summon Pagasa to the investigation.

He said had they been informed in time or had Pagasa broadcasted earlier, the Princess of the Stars would have been able to seek shelter in Looc Bay in Romblon and the tragedy would have been avoided.

Ponteros said he has been with the SLI for several years and was once the captain of the ill-fated M/V Doña Paz. But at the time of the Doña Paz’s sinking in 1987, he was on leave and was in the United States.

He said he had known the 56-year-old Marimon since 1978 and was like a brother to him.

“He is the best master that we have,” he said.

Just before the ship left the port of Manila, the SLI port officer in Cebu advised Marimon “to take precaution and the captain said that he will just avoid the typhoon and take shelter at Tablas Island.”

At 9 a.m., they had difficulty contacting the ship through their single side band (SSB) radio and were forced to use the cellular phone.

Ponteros’ nephew, who was the second mate officer of Princess of the Stars, sent him a text message.

“Uncle, we are listing 40 degrees portside. We are already preparing to abandon ship. Passengers are now wearing life vests. Pray for our safety,” the message read. He then called his nephew and managed to talk to the captain.

Ponteros also denied early reports that the ship encountered engine trouble but that their speed was “half-ahead.”

However, it was a certain Captain Eugenio from SLI’s office in Manila who reportedly informed the PCG last Saturday that it encountered engine trouble.

BMI vice chairman Rear Admiral Benjamin Mata said it should be a standard operating procedure (SOP) of the shipping line to always check on its ship. “Like a father to a son, even if they are already living separately, they should still check on them from time to time.”

Apart from Pagasa, SLI could also rely on other weather bureaus in Hong Kong and Japan.

Mata, who has been a part of the shipping industry for at least four decades, said that during their time, there were no fax messages so they would at times depend on other equipment such as barometers to determine the weather. “On his own, the captain could predict the direction of the ship.”

Apart from Ponteros, at least two radio operators from SLI’s Cebu office were also presented before the BMI, namely, Allan Romares and Noli Alpas.

Senate steps in

Meanwhile, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon called yesterday for the creation of an independent body to investigate the sinking of the Princess of the Stars and future land, air and sea tragedies to ensure an impartial probe.

Other senators also urged authorities to swiftly resolve the incident involving Sulpicio Lines’ Princess of the Stars and punish the guilty as soon as possible.

Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, said Congress must speed up the passage of his Senate Bill No. 2417 recommending the creation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which would be an independent body and non-regulatory agency that would ensure thorough and impartial investigations of transportation accidents.

“When transportation accidents happen, investigations are normally undertaken by the very same government agencies that may have been remiss in their duties in the first place,” Biazon said.

The Biazon bill proposes that members of the Board be appointed by the President for a term of six years and that no member of the NTSB shall concurrently hold any other government office or position be employed in any government-owned or controlled corporation or entity or any private business enterprise whose interest might be in conflict with the Board’s functions and duties.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, for his part, said the Senate should conduct its own investigation as the owners of Sulpicio Lines had been putting the lives of its passengers at risk. 

Roxas said the shipping company would have to explain the presence of highly restricted cargo before the customs, health and environment agencies.

“An aging ferry was allowed to sail in a typhoon, carrying tons of restricted hazardous pesticide perhaps without the knowledge of the passengers themselves – two things that should not have happened under our law, but happened anyway. Heads should roll and the company must be held accountable,” Roxas said.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, called for the creation of special courts to swiftly put a resolution to the sinking of the Princess of the Stars and punish the guilty.

Overhaul maritime law

Speaker Prospero Nograles, for his part, underscored the need for Congress to revisit and possibly overhaul the Philippines’ maritime laws.

“Congress must undertake an immediate comprehensive review of the country’s maritime policies and laws to stop the never-ending cycle of sea tragedies that had claimed more than 5,000 innocent lives during the last 21 years,” he said.

The Speaker said it is high time that government “finds a permanent solution to these recurring maritime tragedies.”

Nograles noted that the world’s most horrifying peacetime shipping tragedy killed at least 4,340 when the Sulpicio-owned Dona Paz collided with the tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait, between the islands of Mindoro and Tablas.

Eight months later, or in August 1988, another ferry - Dona Marilyn – sunk somewhere in Leyte, killing some 250 people.

He said there had been a total of 1,825 maritime accidents between the years 1990 and 1999, or an average of 182 cases each year, according to data provided by the Philippine Coast Guard. – With Aurea Calica, Delon Porcalla