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THE Board of Marine Inquiry will summon more survivors of the MV
Princess of the Stars in a bid to beat the 15-day deadline imposed
by President Gloria Arroyo to finish the probe on the sea tragedy.
The survivors that the inquiry board is planning
to summon is the group of seamen who used their seafaring experience
to help other ship passengers escape the June 21 sea tragedy.
Reports earlier said that a number of the 25
survivors who were washed ashore in Mulanay town in Quezon province,
a day after the sea tragedy were experienced seamen.
Board Chairman Rear Admiral Ramon Liwag told
reporters that the seven-man panel has until Tuesday next week to
finish its probe and submit a report to Transport Secretary Leandro
Mendoza.
During Thursday’s hearing, a female passenger
who survived the tragedy, Susan Lesbo, testified that “the ship
was not in a normal position, then we heard people shouting and
running outside wearing lifejackets.”
Luis Alejandro, the general manager of Del Monte
Philippines Inc., also testified that their endosulfan shipment was
properly declared contrary to the accusation made Sulpicio Lines
Inc., which owned and operated the ill-fated vessel.
Sulpicio has filed a multimillion-peso damage
case against Del Monte for alleged “misdeclaration” of the
endosulfan cargo. Bayer CropScience Phils. denied that is was the
supplier of the toxic pesticide, and stated that it stopped
producing and marketing endosulfan since 1991.
Vice President Noli de Castro said the removal
of the pesticide and the remaining dead bodies on the wreck of the
Princess of the Stars should be a priority.
“It is not the wreck of the ship that is the
problem. The problem is the pesticides and the bodies still left
inside,” de Castro said.
At the House, Reps. Edcel Lagman of the First
District of Albay and Jose Solis of the Second District of Sorsogon
lamented how the recent congressional hearing on the sea tragedy
resulted in the grilling of officials from the Philippine
Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
and the Philippine Coast Guard.
“If there were people who should have taken
the heat for the tragedy that befell the crew and passengers of MV
Princess of the Stars, they should have been the officials of
Sulpicio Lines,” Solis pointed out.
Lagman and Solis vowed to grill Sulpicio
executives during next week’s hearing at the House.
THE Department of Justice also vowed to thwart
Sulpicio’s moves to pass the blame on others to escape
responsibility.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on Thursday said
Sulpico is using “squid tactics” when it filed criminal charges
against the weather bureau and Del Monte.
“These are all squid tactics in order to
muddle the case,” Gonzalez added.
-- Anthony Vargas with Katrice Jalbuena and Sammy Martin
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