SuperFerry suspends deployment of sea marshals

CEBU — Sea marshals have been barred from boarding SuperFerry vessels after last Friday’s fatal shooting of a chief security officer in Davao City and pending an investigation into the incident.

Commodore Wilfredo Tamayo, chief of Task Force Sea Marshal, said Aboitiz Transport System has "indefinitely suspended" the deployment of sea marshals on board any SuperFerry since last Saturday when a sea marshal fatally shot security chief Jovel Facura.

There were conflicting reports, however, on the circumstances surrounding Facura’s death from the Coast Guard in Manila and the police Maritime Group in Davao.

Superintendent Eddie Benigay, who heads the Davao maritime police, said that at about 11:45 p.m. last May 20, an altercation reportedly ensued between Facura and Seaman First Class Julius Villanueva, a Navy sea marshal.

Villanueva was reportedly incensed when Facura accosted the sea marshal who reportedly brought an "unticketed" woman companion on board the General Santos City-bound SuperFerry 16 which was docked at the Sasa wharf in Davao City.

The woman then disembarked. But just as she was going down, Villanueva followed and reportedly shot Facura from behind with an M-16 Armalite rifle as he stood at the gangplank.

Facura sustained bullet wounds in the right abdomen, buttocks and the back. He died at about 8:40 a.m. the following day.

The Coast Guard refuted the police accounts, saying the woman was actually Villanueva’s wife and that she got on board the vessel just to get Villanueva’s bags with no plans of joining the trip.

In his account to the Coast Guard, Villanueva said Facura allegedly humiliated the woman in public by how he kept demanding her to produce a ticket.

But Gina Virtusio, corporate communications manager of Aboitiz Transport System, said they were alarmed and saddened by the incident.

"Our (security chief) was doing his job. He denied boarding to an unticketed companion of a sea marshal. But the sea marshal got back at him and shot him," she said.

"It does not matter to us if the companion was a girlfriend or the wife; that person was not ticketed. There is no excuse. Anyone who goes on board the vessel must be ticketed," she said.

Virtusio added: "Aboitiz Transport System has always been committed to the safety and security of our passengers. We established partnerships with sea marshals in fulfilling this commitment." — Freeman News Service