|
SULPICIO Lines Inc. on Wednesday got even with the Board of Marine
Inquiry that accused the shipping firm of using Titanic-era life
vests, which reportedly did little to help the passengers of the
ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars that sunk late last month during
the height of Typhoon Frank.
The shipping firm claimed it was the
family-owned company of the vice chairman of the inquiry board that
supplied the life vests.
At the resumption of the House of
Representatives hearing on the sea tragedy, Edgar Go, Sulpicio first
vice president, said that it was B.P. Mata and Co. Inc. that
supplied the life vests, which Rear Admiral Benjamin Mata, vice
chairman of the inquiry board, described as “obsolete.”
The company is registered in the name of one of
the children of Mata.
“If the life vests onboard the MV Princess of
the Stars were of the Titanic-era, then it should be the company
owned by one of the children of Rear Admiral Mata which should be
faulted as it was their company that supplied us the life vests,”
Go told reporters.
According to Go, the life vests onboard their
ships, including the Princess of the Stars, have been approved by
the Philippine Coast Guard.
In the same hearing of the House Committee on
Transportation, Sulpicio reiterated its assurance that the recovery
of the toxic substance from the capsized vessel would commence next
month or after the commissioned salvage company, Titan Salvage, has
been given a downpayment of $3.5 million.
“The moment Titan gets the downpayment, they
would start shipping their salvage equipment which as of now, are
already in Singapore,” Go told the committee.
Transportation and Communications Undersecretary
Elena Bautista admitted during the hearing that they just cannot
allow anyone to proceed with the retrieval of the victim’s bodies
until the ill-fated ship had been cleared of its toxic cargo, as the
lives of the divers cannot be put at risk.
“We are after the safety of the divers and the
retrieval of bodies will follow as soon as the deadly toxic is
removed,” Bautista told the committee.
-- Sammy Martin
|
