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THE
first hearing into why the Princess of the Orient
capsized off Romblon shed light Wednesday on two
possible liabilities of ship owner Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI):
overloading of cargo, or failure to heed the revised
Coast Guard guidelines on clearing boats for sailing
during rough weather.
Since
Saturday, when the boat capsized with 800 people and a
huge cargo—including oil—onboard, SLI officials had
pointed to the guidelines and insisted that when the
ship sailed from Manila’s North Harbor Friday night, the
weather bureau had only raised Storm Signal No. 1, which
they said the vessel could weather.
The
revised guidelines, however, mandated ship owners to
look at storm alerts not just in the area of origin, but
also the route and the destination. Even though Manila
was only under Signal 1 as of Friday afternoon, Romblon
was already under Signal 2, and Masbate, Signal 3—all
part of the ship’s route to final destination Cebu.
The
Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI), the body created to
investigate the capsizing, will start to look, as well,
into the overloading angle as the main cause of the
country’s worst sea tragedy this year.
Investigating officials at the first hearing Wednesday
asked Sulpicio Lines to submit its cargo-stowage plan
and cargo manifest, two of the most important documents
the company still has to show to the public days after
the tragedy.
The next
hearing is set Friday. In Wednesday’s hearing the board
had already found some lapses on the part of Sulpicio
that may have contributed to the tragedy, where just a
few dozens of the 800 people on board have so far
survived.
According to BMI chairman Rear Adm. Ramon Liwag, the
weather forecast from Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical
and Astronomical Services Administration came at 4: 45
p.m. on June 20; this said that Typhoon Signal No. 1 was
already hoisted in Metro Manila, Signal No. 2 in Romblon
and Signal No. 3 in Masbate, or the route going to Cebu.
These
forecasts, Liwag said, were material in the
decision-making of both the ship captain and the company
on whether or not to sail.
Sulpicio
Lines’ MV Princess of the Stars is the country’s biggest
roll-on/roll-off vessel, and as such the liner is
claiming that it can weather bigger waves brought about
by the storm.
MV
Princess of the Stars capsized off Sibuyan Island in
Romblon province on Saturday. It had a total of 862
people onboard: 724 manifested passengers, 111 crew
members and 27 contractors.
The
vessel was built in Japan in 1984 with 23,824 gross
registered tonnage with a passenger capacity of 1,992
and cargo capacity of 200 20-foot metal containers.
The
board also grilled Sulpicio officials on the
communications equipment used by the vessel because port
authorities received no distress signal when the ship
was already sinking.
Edgar
Go, the company’s first vice president and the first
Sulpicio official to appear before the witness stand,
replied that because of the bad weather, the distress
signal got lost.
Investigating officials, however, disagreed and argued
that distress signals may be received anywhere in the
world once pressed.
International laws mandate equipping oceangoing vessels
with a system called a vessel-tracking monitoring
system, which could be handy in times of bad weather or
pirate attacks.
Local
authorities are not yet requiring domestic vessels to
have such a system.
The
board also pointed out that Sulpicio was wrong to
surmise that the Philippine Coast Guard is still using
an outdated policy when it let the vessel leave port of
Manila on June 20.
Arthur
Lim, lawyer for Sulpicio Lines, presented Memorandum
Circular 03-98-A dated October 15, 1998, which states
that: “The Coast Guard District Commanders are the ones
mandated to plot the prevailing weather condition and
weather forecast for the next 72 hours and disseminate
to all subordinate units and local shipping agencies the
latest weather update.
“This is
not to say that ship owners do not have the same
responsibility of also monitoring and keeping track of
weather reports. But I would just like to highlight
that, your honor, to avoid any misimpression that the
entire burden of keeping track of a weather disturbance
rests only on the shoulders of ship owners,” he said.
Commodore Ramon Reblora, member of the board, told Lim
that a revised circular was released on June 27, 2007.
The
guidelines state: “Movements of any craft/vessel is left
to the decision and responsibility of its master/ship
owner if PSWS [Public Storm Warning Signal] No. 1 is
hoisted within the vessel’s point of origin, the route
and destination.
“No
vessel of 2,000 gross tons or below shall sail except to
take shelter if PSWS No. 2 is hoisted within its point
of origin, the route and point of destination.
“No
vessel shall sail except to take shelter if PSWS No. 3/
PSWS number No. 4 is hoisted within its point of
origin, the route and point of destination,” the
guidelines further states. |
