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EMBATTLED Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the upturned
ferry MV Princess of the Stars, hinted that it may also
sue the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in the next
few days for grounding the company’s vessels allegedly
without following proper procedures.
During
Wednesday’s hearing at Branch 24 of the Regional Trial
Court in Manila, Sulpicio lawyer Arthur Lim said that
Marina “has no power to suspend” the vessels of the
company just because there was an accident involving one
of its ships.
“I am
just manifesting that there is nothing in our laws that
empowers Marina to immediately suspend [shipping lines]
just because there is an accident,” Lim said during the
hearing.
“There
must be due process before the punitive penalty of
suspension or grounding of all vessels is ordered. This
is a very extraordinary government your honor,” Lim told
Judge Anthony Eugenio Jr.
When
Eugenio asked if there will be changes on the complaint
filed by Sulpicio, Lim answered: “That is for another
time and another comment.”
Wednesday’s hearing was called by the court on the case
that Sulpicio filed against the Board of Marine Inquiry
(BMI) and all its members, including top officials of
the Coast Guard. The company asked the court to stop the
BMI from investigating the incident involving MV
Princess of the Stars.
Sulpicio
claimed that it was Marina that should investigate the
case.
The
company has also filed charges against officials of the
weather bureau and Del Monte, consignee of the
endosulfan shipment onboard the upturned vessel.
Days
after MV Princess of the Stars upturned off Sibuyan
Island on June 21, Marina grounded all the
passenger-cargo vessels of Sulpicio for audit
inspection. All of Sulpicio’s eight cargo vessels,
however, were not grounded as this may result in the
shortage of ships that move domestic cargo.
Sulpicio,
meanwhile, dropped the Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)
from the multimillion-peso civil suit it filed on June
30, but left on the charge sheet the officials of the
weather bureau.
The
shipping company filed instead an amended complaint that
named as respondents Pagasa Director Prisco Nilo and
Weather Forecasting Bureau chief Nathaniel Cruz.
Sulpicio
is seeking a total of P4.5 million in damages. It was
reported that Pagasa cannot be sued because the
Constitution provides that the government cannot be sued
without its consent.
The
shipping company accused the Pagasa executives in both
their “official and personal capacities of having
committed acts of gross negligence and gross dereliction
of duty.”
Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez, meanwhile, warned Sulpicio from
pushing through with its plan to abandon MV Princess of
the Stars to its insurer, saying that it cannot exercise
such right just to avoid its liabilities.
Gonzalez
made the statement in reaction to the announcement of
some officials of the company during Wednesday’s
congressional hearing on the recent sea tragedy that it
is planning to abandon the vessel.
He said
Sulpicio has no moral or legal right to exercise the
right to abandonment since it is it responsibility for
removing the sunken vessel.
Gonzalez
stressed that the upturned ferry is an environmental
nuisance, which, under the Civil Code, specifically
obliges the persons owning the nuisance to shoulder all
the expenses necessary to remove it.
He
stressed that under the country’s commercial laws,
abandonment means the relinquishment by the ship owner
of its rights and interests over the vessel after its
constructive total loss.
“However, the statutory right of abandonment is
necessarily limited by the constitutional right of the
people to a balanced and healthful ecology, and it
therefore cannot be exercised to limit or avoid the
liability of Sulpicio Lines for acts or omission harmful
to the environment,” the justice secretary said.
Sulpicio,
Gonzalez said, can be sued if it abandons its
responsibility to remove its ship, which upturned on the
waters off Sibuyan Island, Romblon, at the height of
Typhoon Frank on June 21.
“There
is a law, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, which makes
the shipper responsible to third persons. It is just
like when you have a car, you get insurance on
third-party damage. That is built in any carriage, the
liability to passengers. The problem there is, the
insurance may not be sufficient. The government will
then have to takeover … .We can charge them to
recompense the government. But we can hammer them on the
issue of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple
homicide,” Gonzalez added. (VG Cabuag, TJ Agcaoili and
J. San Juan) |
