|
The law of the sea is drawn from some of the greatest acts and
rituals of human kind. One is the Biblical story of the Good
Samaritan. The other is the oath of Hippocrates that new doctors
take.
The Good Samaritan nursed a bloodied man he
found on the roadside back to health. He was somebody who needed
help and help was what he got, regardless of his religion or creed.
The theme is the unbelievable kindness of the human heart.
Doctors, under the oath, swear to provide
medical treatment to those who need it. Doctors never discriminate
as to the people, soldier or dissident, outlaw or saint, they give
medical attention to.
That law of the sea draws from those
across-the-board, regardless of, acts of humanity. A vessel at sea,
by tradition, is obliged to come to the rescue of every vessel or
mariner in distress, including pirate ships. A merchant marine
officer, booze-whacked and unruly on land, is highly steeped in the
tradition of the Good Samaritan in the high seas.
The movies that show rain-drenched mariners
throwing life rafts after drowning persons in the midst of a raging
sea are reality-grounded.
We just don’t know why Sen. Rodolfo Biazon
made that juvenile, ridiculous critique about a US warship (USS
Ronald Reagan) helping in the search and rescue operation for the
missing passengers of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars. Biazon,
of all people, knows about the great tradition that animates the law
of the sea. He was a Marine. He, too, has been around forever.
What if the ship has nuclear warheads? What if
the vessel has a stockpile enough to annihilate the Dear Leader? At
sea, after a distress signal is received, all ships that can do
maneuvers should turn around to join in the rescue of the vessel.
This is the unchallenged, immutable law of the sea.
People’s lives come first. Saving lives at sea
trump constitutional provisions.
Biazon’s juvenile tirade was not the only
ugly, foot-in-the-mouth outburst made in the gloomy, lethal
aftermath of Typhoon Frank. The other came from one of the owners of
Sulpicio Lines. It described the horrific disaster that killed more
people than Typhoon Cosme as an “Act of God.”
More than the Philippine Coast Guard, the
Philippine Ports Authority, the Maritime Industry Authority—or any
government maritime agency for that matter—it is the ship
owner/operator who has the primary responsibility to tie up
passenger ships at port during bad weather. Our seas are unforgiving
during bad weather. The perils are for real. Once a ship sets sail
for the sea during bad weather, it is the call of the ship owner to
act for the safety of passengers, cargo and crew.
Of all the major shipping operators plying the
major inter-island routes, the state of alertness—and therefore
prudence—should belong to Sulpicio. It owned MV Doña Paz, which
figured in the worst marine disaster of modern times. Two major
disasters involving Sulpicio vessels came in between the sinking of
the Doña and the Princess. Within a span of two decades, Sulpicio
has built a track record as the owner/operator of killer ships.
This alone should have pushed the Sulpicio
management to tie up the Princess at port at the first weather
bulletin for Frank. But it did not. The Princess sailed out into
tempestuous sea and made the sea another vast, watery graveyard for
most of its passengers.
What followed was the unkindest cut of all—the
claim that the disaster that killed hundreds of innocent people was
“ an act of God.”
The disaster was two things: Act of Greed or Act
of the Dark Gut.
The intense public awareness of Sulpicio’s
track record in ship operation will hopefully lead to the meting out
of maritime justice this time around. The Board of Marine Inquiry,
instead of echoing Sulicio’s claim that the tragedy involving the
Princess was an act of God, should recommend harsh, swift and
determined sanctions against Sulpicio, the coast guard people that
cleared the ship’s voyage and all the port people that facilitated
the ill-fated trip.
We should stop attributing to God the failed
acts of men, the vilest of human decisions.
This is not only whitewashing tragedies. It is
blasphemy.
mvrong@yahoo.com
|
