EDITORIAL - Punish them

If it isn’t a tanker spilling toxic substances into Philippine waters, it’s yet another ferry sinking, leaving scores of people dead.

With one of the world’s most extensive coastlines, spread out over 7,100 islands, the country’s territorial waters cannot be patrolled properly by the poorly equipped Coast Guard and military. Nothing can be kept out: terrorists, poachers, contraband — everything can enter Philippine territory undetected. Apart from weakness in protecting the country’s territorial integrity, the government is also hard-pressed to enforce maritime safety rules especially when it comes to small, wooden-hulled boats.

It may be impossible for the government to keep track of every boat that ferries passengers and cargo within the archipelago. But it is possible to encourage compliance by showing that boat operators cannot get away with violations of maritime safety rules.

For example, even small boats equipped with outriggers are supposed to provide passengers with life vests. This was obviously not the case with the ferry M/B Leonida II. Coast Guard rescue teams are still looking for 19 passengers including a town mayor who remain missing after the ferry capsized off Surigao City last Saturday afternoon. Fifteen bodies have been recovered so far while 66 people have been rescued. The wooden-hulled ferry was reportedly carrying 300 sacks of cement, 18 sacks of rice and cases of soft drinks. As expected, the ferry’s passenger manifest was not accurate.

The ferry’s owner has apologized to the survivors and the victims’ relatives. The government will have to do more than accept the apology. Since the ferry Doña Paz collided with the oil tanker Vector in December 1987, killing about 4,000 in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, little progress has been achieved in making maritime transportation safer in this country. One of the biggest reasons has to be the failure to punish operators of vessels that figure in maritime disasters.

Accidents happen, but human negligence can increase the odds of tragedy befalling ship passengers. Maritime authorities should start coming down hard on such negligence. In all forms of mass transportation, safety must always be the paramount concern. Those who compromise passenger safety must be made to pay dearly for it.