These may be mom-and-pop operations, but because the banca ferrying business involves public safety, the government must do what it can to make this means of transportation safe. Though small and slow compared with regular ferries, outriggers are popular and sometimes the only means of inter-island transportation in many parts of the country.
The outriggers are supposed to stabilize motorized boats in choppy waters. But if typhoons and big waves can sink sturdier ferries, outriggers are no match for nature’s fury. Bigger also does not mean better, and even large outriggers can easily sink when overloaded.
Last Sunday night an outrigger capsized on its way to Aparri from Calayan in Northern Luzon. Reports said the weather was fine when the M/B Mae Jan left the Calayan port on Sunday morning. The boat was expected to dock in Aparri at 4 p.m. but never reached port as the weather turned bad and the sea became rough. Initial investigation indicated that the boat was overloaded. As of last night 23 people had been confirmed dead, including the owner and a one-year-old boy. At least 31 others were missing while 44 were rescued.
Coast Guard authorities said the boat was authorized to carry only 40 passengers and 10 crewmembers. Overloading is common across the archipelago, especially in small boats that are barely supervised by maritime transportation authorities. But despite numerous deadly maritime accidents, the boats remain popular mainly because the fares are cheaper.
The continuing popularity is no excuse for going on with business as usual. If the government can regulate the millions of vehicles that offer mass transportation by land, it can improve its regulation of maritime transportation. Supervision of ports can be tightened to make it possible to regulate even the smallest boat that ferries passengers and cargo for a fee. Boat operators must be required to provide all passengers with life vests before being allowed to leave port. Violators must face stiff penalties, together with the maritime personnel whose laxity allows deadly sea disasters to occur, over and over.