A ferry to remember

The main basis for order in society is structure. However, to create such structure it needs to accept certain assumptions. A community’s collective values are supposed to be reflected in its laws that categorize certain actions as either “legal,” or “illegal.” Thus, Mauritania’s African tribal societies allow young women to be force-fed to obesity. In certain Middle Eastern countries, it is lawful to cut off a convicted robber’s limb, but in the Philippines that would be deemed as cruel and unusual punishment. Similarly, “caning” may be an acceptable penalty for certain transgressions committed in Singapore, but would probably be frowned upon here. In the end, it doesn’t matter what a society believes so long as a majority support it and the norm does not contravene a generally accepted principle of international law. Yet perhaps the main difficulty faced is determining where to draw the line between arguably relative concepts as “good” and “evil,” and “right” and “wrong.” Indeed, at what point does “negligence” become “tantamount to murder” and where does one separate blind “obedience” from informed “independence?” These are some of the questions brought to mind by the world’s most recent — but no less heartbreaking — ferry disaster in South Korea.

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For sure, the Philippines has had its fair share of maritime mishaps — 18 major tragedies since 1980. 300 casualties for any country or in any language is one too many. But the Koreans can take some comfort when comparing that figure to the thousand plus victims of the MV Princess of the Stars’ sinking in 2008 or the 1987 MV Doña Paz collision which claimed over 4,000 lives. The latter was dubbed the “Asian Titanic” and has been recognized as the worst peacetime disaster in the 20th century. However, as distinguished from the recent incident which happened at 8:40 a.m. in relatively calm conditions, the Philippine tragedies occurred after a collision during bad weather or amidst a raging typhoon.

Many disasters are either unforeseeable or unavoidable (fortuitous events or force majeure in legal speak). But there are accidents that could have been prevented with the proper observance of due care. Regardless, the families of those affected will be stricken with grief, but when the disaster could have been averted if not for the incompetence or negligence of those in charge, such grief easily turns to anger. Indeed, last week’s Jeju Island-bound ferry for Incheon, carrying 476 passengers (339 of which were high school children and teachers on a field trip) was supposed to be an ordinary sail. The exact cause of the sinking has yet to be determined. But it has been established that at the time of the accident, the captain was in his cabin, leaving a 25-year-old third mate at the helm. A sharp right turn by the novice might have caused the ferry’s cargo to shift, putting it into an irreversible list. That action coupled with the subsequent handling of the crisis has infuriated the entire country.

According to a transcript detailing the crew’s final communications with marine transport control, it became clear that what contributed to the huge loss of life was the captain’s order for the passengers to stay put for approximately 30 minutes after the ship started to sink. Moreover, as opposed to the usual “passenger’s safety first” policy, the captain and his crew were one of the first groups to board the lifeboats. Korean children are raised in a Confucian culture which teaches them to respect and obey their elders and superiors at all times. These children obediently followed the instruction to wait for a rescue that apparently would never arrive. This led South Korea’s President Park Geun-Gye to exclaim, the “behavior of the captain and some crew members is beyond understanding and constituted absolutely unacceptable, unforgivable actions.” According to the captain though, he gave the order in the best interest of the children, stating that he feared the strong current and big waves would cause the children to drown if they evacuated early.

Since then, the captain and 10 crew members have been arrested in a growing criminal investigation. They have been charged with negligence and for various violations of Korean maritime law. Additionally, prosecutors have raided the home of Yoo Byung-un who was a charismatic preacher and the head of a family which owns the vessel’s parent company. Apparently, Yoo had spent four years in jail for tax fraud during the early ’90s and investigators are looking into a possible corruption angle as well.

The vice principal who organized the field trip took his own life saying “surviving alone is too painful when 200 lives are unaccounted for… I take full responsibility.” He requested for his cremated ashes to be scattered over the site “that I might be a teacher in heaven to those kids whose bodies have not been found.”

Was the negligence of the captain and his crew so reckless as to constitute murder? Did a Confucian culture instill blind obedience in its children to the point of depriving them of their ability to make independent judgments? Just like when you are out at sea, perhaps it is in grey, uncharted waters, where the definitions become murky, that, in the end, the line will be ultimately drawn according to one’s conscience (or not drown according to one’s capabilities). Unlike their regular telenovelas, this incident will be “a ferry to remember” in Korea for a long, long time.

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Smart move: A complaint of yore has finally fallen on a receptive ear.  Frequent Filipino flyers will be pleased to know that the Bureau of Immigration under the leadership of Commissioner Siegfried Mison has come up with a simplified, short form, advertisement-free departure card which now only requires basic travel information. Moreover, returning residents who use the new, machine-readable Philippine passports no longer have to fill up an immigration arrival card. These changes are in line with international best practices and deserve a two-centavo mention.

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Greetings: Birth anniversary best wishes to college classmate Ramona Fernan-Quiogue.

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“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths

 is a statistic.”  — Joseph Stalin

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Email: [email protected]