EDITORIAL - Another ferry sinking

Even before a board of marine inquiry could finish its investigation of a ferry sinking last month, a motor launch sank Saturday afternoon off Biliran. Initial reports said the boat, called Nilode, had a capacity of only 30 passengers, but left port with up to 130 people. Some reports said that when a group moved to one side of the boat, apparently trying to find shade, the boat capsized. Nineteen people, three of them children, drowned.

Finger-pointing began even before the identities of the fatalities were known. Politicians blamed the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, on the other hand, said the boat was not cleared to leave port because of overloading, but local officials who boarded the boat at the last minute allegedly insisted on sailing. Other Coast Guard personnel repeated earlier complaints that they lacked people, resources and authority to strictly enforce maritime safety rules.

If even an overloaded pump boat can’t be prevented from sailing, the Coast Guard should be shut down. Ferries are among the cheapest and most popular means of transportation in this archipelago of 7,100 islands. There are maritime safety rules that must be enforced. Yet boats continue to be overloaded, cargo is improperly stowed, ship engines are not properly maintained, passengers are not manifested or required to wear life vests, and ships do not have enough life boats. There are other violations that we hear about only after another ferry sinks or catches fire, leaving scores of people dead.

Transportation officials acted with unusual speed and filed multiple homicide charges against four Coast Guard personnel stationed at the Naval port in Biliran where the boat Nilode had set sail. Under the principle of command responsibility, the Coast Guard chief in Leyte was also relieved. Yesterday, the board of marine inquiry came out with its findings on the fire that destroyed the M/V Carmela last April 11 that left 72 people dead or missing. Criminal and administrative charges were recommended against the ferry captain and four crew members.

Apart from crew members and Coast Guard personnel, transportation officials should also come down hard on irresponsible ship owners who condone violations of maritime safety rules by their crew. One reason we have third-rate, unsafe services in a widely used mode of mass transportation is because ship owners know they can get away with murder with a proverbial slap on the wrist.