EDITORIAL - Safe sea travels

As in previous years except during the pandemic lockdowns, EDSA and the expressways leading out of Metro Manila again became scenes of “carmageddon” last Friday night, at the start of the Christmas break for schools and certain offices.

Apart from land transportation, sea transport is also popular in this archipelago. The Philippine Ports Authority projects over 4.5 million people traveling by sea this Yuletide season, peaking in the days before Christmas Eve and again after the New Year celebrations when people prepare to return to work and school. The PPA has assured the public that there will be no long waiting lines to board ships. X-ray machines for security inspection have been upgraded while port terminal fees have been integrated into ticket purchases.

Other agencies should perform their roles in ensuring safe sea travel. Ships must be properly vetted for seaworthiness, and regulators must ensure compliance with safety standards in sea journeys. These should go without saying, but weak regulation has been blamed for the many maritime accidents across the country involving mass transport vessels of all sizes in the past years.

The maritime accidents have claimed thousands of lives, and they occurred not just during the wet season of tropical cyclones and monsoons, but even in fine weather during the summer Holy Week break and Christmas holidays. The world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster occurred on Dec. 20, 1987 in Tablas Strait in Mindoro: the collision of the Sulpicio Lines ferry Doña Paz with the oil tanker Vector. The death toll was placed at nearly 4,400, with only 26 survivors.

Probers said at least 2,000 passengers were not on the Doña Paz manifest, life jackets were not distributed and the ship had no working radio. The Vector, meanwhile, lacked an operating license, a lookout and a qualified master, and was found to be unseaworthy. Its crewmembers were reportedly on holiday mode and drinking beer or watching television while the captain was watching a movie on Betamax in his cabin.

Since this tragedy, described as Asia’s Titanic, some reforms have been implemented in the Philippine maritime industry. But numerous accidents involving inter-island ferries in subsequent years indicate the need for tighter regulation and more reforms. The holidays are always a test of the improvements in the maritime industry. Christmas cheer should not turn into tragedy.