Sailing date for two Sulpicio vessels set Saturday

There are no more legal obstacles for the two vessels of Sulpicio Lines Incorporated to resume operations after the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) renewed their safety certificates following the lifting of the grounding order.

In fact, Sulpicio Lines has already informed Marina that the MV Princess of the Earth and MV Cotabato Princess will resume sailing tomorrow.

Marina-7 regional director Glen Cabañes said he was informed by SLI officials that Princess of the Earth will resume its usual trip to Butuan while Cotabato Princess will again be plying the Manila-Estancia-Ilo-ilo route.

Cabañes said he had already issued safety certificates to the two ships the other day after their Manila office allowed them to resume operation when the ships passed the re-audit.

Cabañes however said that Sulpicio should seek clarification from Manila first if they could already take passengers. This, after Marina deputy administrator said that the lifting order has no condition.

Cabañes said as far as he is concerned, the operation should only be limited to cargo. This was also the last instruction from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her meeting with the ship owners last month.

Cabañes said they are expecting that the fate of the remaining six vessels will be known by Monday. Although, the re-audit has been finished, Cabañes said they do not know whether the six have passed or not because people from Manila conducted the inspection.

Marina earlier grounded all the vessels of the shipping company following the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island last June 21.

Hundreds of its passengers and crew members remain missing while many bodies recovered are yet to be identified.

The vessel sailed from Manila to Cebu amidst the typhoon Frank, which already threatened the provinces along the route of the ship.

In fact, storm signal number three was already hoisted by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration.

Be Wary

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday told the public to be vigilant when they choose to ride the vessels of Sulpicio Lines.

Osmeña said that while he understands the need for the company to resume operations to cut its losses, he is also much concerned of the safety of the passengers because of the shipping company’s apparent lack of concern for the passengers.

The mayor said the passengers should not rely on the captain and Marina during bad weather condition.

The mayor admitted that he is not an expert on navigational safety, but he said many people know that in most instances when vessels owned by Sulpicio Lines sunk, this is due to the ship captain insisting on sailing despite the bad weather.

The mayor added that the Marina officials have not also been very transparent in letting the public know the violations of the ships owned by the Sulpicio Lines and what corrections were implemented. — Fred P Languido with Rene U. Borromeo/NLQ