EDITORIAL — Slow justice

Criminal charges have been filed by the police against a Philippine Coast Guard officer along with the owner and captain of a motorized boat that capsized off Binangonan, Rizal on July 27, leaving 27 passengers dead.

Coast Guard PO2 Jay Rivera, Aya Express boat owner Rufino Antonil and skipper Donald Anain were charged with negligence as well as reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicides and multiple injuries. Rivera was on duty when the boat left the Binangonan port on its way to Talim Island. The PCG said the boat was allowed to leave port because Typhoon Egay had already left the Philippine area of responsibility. Some witnesses, however, said the boat was able to sail, with the passengers not being required to wear life vests, because there was no PCG personnel on duty.

It remains to be seen whether these criminal charges will prosper and appropriate punishment imposed. The wheels of justice turn exceedingly slow in this country, especially when it involves monetary compensation. Relatives of over 1,000 of the estimated 4,385 people who died when the inter-island ferry Doña Paz owned by Sulpicio Lines collided with the oil tanker Vector are still fighting for compensation, even after a settlement was reached for about $27 million to be paid. The accident, tagged as the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, occurred way back in December 1987. Yet only 2,000 of the fatalities were confirmed to be qualified for compensation. Will it take another three decades before the others get compensated for their loss?

Last February, the country suffered one of its worst environmental disasters when the tanker Princess Empress sank off Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro, spilling much of its cargo of 800,000 liters of industrial fuel. The tanker, which was on its way to Iloilo from Bataan, was reportedly a refurbished 50-year-old vessel that was not designed to transport “black oil,” but it was allowed to sail several times using questionable documents.

Criminal charges were filed before the Department of Justice on June 5 against 35 people, including officials of the PCG and Maritime Industry Authority, crewmembers of the ship and officials of the company that owns the vessel, RDC Reield Marine Services. Additional charges were filed this week for graft against the PCG and MARINA officials as well as RDC Reield president Reymundo Cabial and his children who are co-incorporators of the company.

The public, especially relatives of those who died in the Aya Express tragedy as well as those who have suffered from the Princess Empress oil spill, can only hope that it won’t take decades before justice is rendered.