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In the summer of l965, when I first came to Manila to search for the
proverbial pot of gold, I could not afford to buy a ship’s ticket.
So, my late uncle, who was then a quartermaster of an inter-island
vessel, hid me in his dank cabin for three days and two nights until
we arrived in Manila.
All my uncles were marine officers in
inter-island vessels plying mostly the Cebu-Mindanao routes until
they retired and died. They raised their families from working in
inter-island vessels. And even when I was already employed in Manila
but still could not afford plane fares, I took the inter-island
ships during my regular visits to my hometown in Cebu.
That is why I have a soft spot in my heart for
workers in the shipping industry. And I was saddened to learn that
some 140 crewmembers of eight of the ships of Sulpicio Lines, Inc.
(SLI) now grounded in the Port of Cebu have been laid off. In fact,
some 5,000 workers of the shipping firm will all become jobless if
the grounding of SLI’s vessels becomes permanent.
I do not know the owners of SLI. I have NEVER
met them. But I commiserate with them as I commiserate with the
relatives of the hundreds of victims of the sinking of the MV
Princess of the Stars, most of them still entombed in the sunken
hull of the vessel off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon.
For the past few days, we have heard nothing
but recriminations, knee-jerk responses, and irrational and almost
hysterical reactions to the tragedy.
Everybody is now asking for the blood of
Sulpicio Lines. There has been an orchestrated media blitz, first
calling for a government takeover of the firm and now for the
cancellation of its franchise.
May we ask what good the revocation of
Sulpicio’s franchise would do? Will it bring back the lives of
those who died? Will it assure everyone that there will be no more
sea accidents in the future? And if it will be forced to close shop,
how will Sulpicio pay for its obligations to the victims and the
re-floating of the Princess that would cost from P2 billion to P4.5
billion?
These are simple questions that need to be
answered in a sober and rational way.
Who’s at fault?
Nobody wanted the accident to happen. While it
is true that there were grave lapses on the part of SLI, Pagasa, the
Marine Industry Authority (Marina) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG),
once the ship has put out to sea, it becomes the captain’s
responsibility to bring the vessel safely to its port of
destination.
So, it was probably the misjudgment (for not
veering away from the path of the storm) of the ship’s captain,
Florencio Marimon, who is still missing, that caused the accident.
If Marimon is still alive, he should face the consequences of his
acts. Just like in a vehicular accident, the driver, and not the bus
company, is charged with reckless imprudence for the loss of lives
as a result of the accident.
Contrary to popular views, shipping is the most
regulated transport industry in the country. It is subjected to
various regulations and restrictions by agencies like the Marina and
the PCG. No ship can sail out of port without being cleared by the
PCG and all vessels are rigorously inspected before they are allowed
to operate. But still marine accidents happen.
Nasty rumor
The grounding of the vessels of Sulpicio Lines
has already slowed down business activities in Cebu and major
Mindanao provinces serviced by the company’s vessels. Sulpicio
accounts for 40 percent of the country’s cargo shipping market.
One of its main competitors is the Aboitiz
Transport Corp., which operates the SuperFerry and SuperCat vessels.
Both firms compete in the lucrative Manila-Cebu route and the routes
from Cebu to various ports in Mindanao.
A recent banner story of the Daily Inquirer
reported that SLI had a total of 45 sea accidents during the past 28
years with four major ones, including the l987 collision of Dona Paz
in l987 that killed more than 4,000 persons. The basis of the story
was a report of the Lloyd’s MIU, a reputable firm monitoring
marine developments around the world.
But a follow-up story, surprisingly not by the
Inquirer but by the Philippine Star using the same Lloyd’s data,
said that it was not Sulpicio but Aboitiz that has the most number
of sea tragedies, with 71 accidents.
There are unconfirmed but persistent rumors in
the shipping industry that the Aboitiz group is interested in
acquiring all the ships of Sulpicio the moment the firm loses its
franchise.
If these rumors are not true, then we would
know who is behind this massive campaign to put Sulpicio out of
business.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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