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By Sammy Martin, Reporter
THE never-ending cycle of sea tragedies that had
claimed more than 5,000 innocent lives during the last 21 years
should be stopped at once, and both houses of Congress must
undertake an immediate comprehensive review of the country’s
maritime policies and laws.
“We should find a permanent solution to these
recurring maritime tragedies. While negligence, too much greed for
profit and incompetence are among the major factors that contribute
to the country’s poor maritime safety record, part of the problem
might also be on our exiting maritime laws,” said Nograles.
The world’s most horrifying peacetime shipping
tragedy killed at least 4,340 when the ferry Doña Paz collided with
the tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait, between the islands of
Mindoro and Tablas.
Eight months later, another ferry—MV Doña
Marilyn—sunk off Leyte during a typhoon, killing some 250. The MV
Princess of the Orient likewise sunk in 2004 after encountering a
killer typhoon. All of them are owned by Sulpicio Lines, including
that of MV Princess of the Stars, which capsized with more than 800
people onboard last June 21.
Between the years 1990 and 1999, the Philippine
Coast Guard reported a total of 1,825 maritime accidents with an
average of 182 reported cases per year.
Once and for all, Nograles said, policies and
laws concerning maritime transport and port operations must be
consolidated, including the licensure and training of maritime
captains and personnel, and even government maritime officials and
personnel.
“We have to have a clear blueprint of a
long-term program to modernize the industry,” he added, noting
that the Princes of the Stars tragedy is a “painful wake up
call.”
A study by the Congressional Planning and Budget
Department showed that “most ships in the country tend to overload
during peak passenger season. This is partly because majority of
passengers have little choice and are willing to board even an
overcrowded deck.”
Low investments in maritime industry
The poor safety record of the industry is only
one of the many problems that resulted from the inadequate in-flow
of investments, which is the main obstacle to the development of the
Philippine shipping industry.
The Speaker said this is manifested in the
relative age of the domestic merchant fleet, which consists mostly
of vessels 20 years old or more. One major constraint in the
industry is that ships require large investments.
Seven years ago, a 10-year-old cargo vessel
weighing 6,800 dead weight tons needed a capitalization of around
$3.616 million.
“That was seven years ago. With our inflation
rate always on the upward momentum, it could be much more,” he
said.
Excluding data after 2001, 425 vessels sank
within the Philippines seas from 1991 to 2001, with the most
sensational ones involving the Doña Paz and Doña Marilyn.
“Safety should be a prime consideration for
policy makers and policy implementors,” Nograles said.
However, the Speaker noted that from 1990 to
1999, there had been a noticeable decrease in the number of maritime
accidents, from the high 456 in 1990 to 116 in 1999.
Other problems in the industry include high
domestic shipping freight rates and poor passenger and cargo service
standards.
Nograles also said Congress must also look into
the government incentive policy for industry players, so investments
could be increased for fleet expansion and modernization.
There is also the high cost of doing business.
According to the Philippine Inter-island Shipping Association,
domestic ship owners are subjected to comparatively higher operating
costs relative to their counterparts in Southeast Asia.
In fuel cost, domestic ships spend higher on
locally supplied fuel compared to ships operating within the Asian
region, except for Japan.
“These are the visible problems we have to
look into. I expect that we should discover more loopholes once we
sit down and scrutinize our maritime law and policies,” Nograles
said.
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