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THE
Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Manila on Thursday has
junked the petition of Sulpicio Lines Inc. for a
temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the hearings
of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) on the sinking of
MV Princess of the Stars.
In a
three-page decision, Judge Antonio Eugenio Jr. of Branch
124 of the RTC in Manila said that Maritime Industry
Authority (Marina) had already abdicated its
jurisdiction and authority to investigate maritime
incidents when it signed a memorandum of agreement with
the Coast Guard.
“Accordingly, for lack of merit, the prayer for issuance
of a temporary restraining order embodied in plantiff’s
[Sulpicio’s] verified complaint is hereby denied,” the
court said.
The
court, however, lectured Marina and the Coast Guard,
which are both under the Department of Transportation
and Communications, that they should put their act
together.
It added
that even if the court denied the issuance of a TRO, the
fact remains that the BMI and Marina belong to the same
department and are both undertaking separate
investigations on the sinking of the vessel that killed
hundreds of people.
“To this
court, these two agencies [Marina and the Philippine
Coast Guard] under the same department cannot duplicate
each other in the same task of maritime investigation of
sea disasters considering the danger of arriving at
conflicting findings which can only embarrass the
department [DOTC],” the order, released on Thursday
afternoon, said.
Marina
earlier said that it is not duplicating the functions of
the BMI, but its hearings will focus on Sulpicio’s
cancellation of franchise owing to the incident.
Earlier
this week, Sulpicio has sued the BMI, its members and
some officials of the Coast Guard and claimed that its
members had prejudged the outcome of the hearing and
that Marina is the one that has jurisdiction in the
investigation.
The
court, however, said the recusation of two board members
may have already solved the alleged bias against
Sulpicio.
“But
injunction as the ‘strong arm of equity of a
transcendent remedy’ is to be used cautiously as it
affects the respective rights of the parties and only
upon conviction on the part of the court of its extreme
necessity,” the order said.
“…The
court does not possess that full conviction nor is it
convinced of its extreme necessity,” it added.
On
Monday two members of the BMI—Capt. Amado Romillo and
retired Rear Adm. Benjamin Mata—recused after Sulpicio
legal counsel Arthur Lim accused them of bias.
During
the BMI hearings, the two have been vocal and were
available for media interviews.
Hearings
at the court will resume on Monday on Sulpicio’s
petition for an injuction to stop the BMI from
proceeding with the hearings.
Aside
from the BMI, Sulpicio also filed charges against
weather bureau officials for the alleged inaccurate
weather bulletins and tropical cyclone warnings issued
at the height of Typhoon Frank and Del Monte Philippines
Inc. for allegedly not disclosing that endosulfan—which
the ferry was carrying during its shipment—is toxic and
a marine pollutant.
Earlier,
Sulpicio hinted that it may also sue Marina for
grounding the company’s ships allegedly without
following proper procedures.
During
Wednesday’s hearing at Branch 24 of the RTC in Manila,
Lim said 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.”
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