Strict regulations eyed for fluvial procession after sinking incident

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has called for an executive session inviting representatives from the Philippine Coastguard (PCG)-7 and the Naval Force Central (NAVFORCEN) to shed light on the sinking of a motorized banca during the fluvial procession last Jan. 20,2024.

This executive session was agreed upon following the privilege speech of Cebu City Councilor Jun Alcover during the regular Cebu City Council session last Wednesday, January 24, 2024, in relation to what transpired during the Fluvial procession.

The motorized banca reportedly had six people on board and was on its way back to Pier 1 when it started taking in water and eventually sank, as shown in a video that has gone viral on social media. All people on board were brought to safety.

In his speech, Alcover said that according to PCG Commander Mark Larsen Mariano, there were 139 motorized bancas, 31 passenger vessels, four speedboats, 24 tugboats, and six yachts that participated in the Fluvial Parade.

Further quoting the PCG commander, Alcover said passengers boarding the participating vessels with open deck accommodation were required to wear lifejackets throughout the procession.

But Alcover said that the passengers of the sunken boat did not look like they had life jackets.

“Di ako ang hustong hingtungdan na musuta sa unsa ang hinungdan sa maong pagkalunod. Pero basi sa mga videos na nikatap sa social media karon, akong namatikdan nga wala man diay life jacket ang mga pasahero ato nga motorized banca,” said Alcover.

“Nakadugang sa akong kabalaka nga adunay Senior Citizen na sakay ato na motorized banca,” added Alcover, who is the chairman of the Committee of Senior Citizens of the Cebu City Council.

As he continued, Alcover also cited other tragedies that accordingly transpired during Fluvial Parades.

Among this is the Holy Cross of Wawa Fluvial Parade Tragedy commonly known as the Pagoda Tragedy at Bocaue Bulacan on July 2, 1993 wherein 297 individuals were reported dead. Most of those who died were reportedly not wearing life jackets.

Aside from this, Alcover also cited the incident in 2006 in San Ricardo, Leyte Fluvial Parade wherein 16 were reported dead. Reports also noted that passengers were not wearing life jackets.

In 2022, during the Taguig Fluvial Parade, one individual who wasn’t wearing a life jacket also died during the procession.

“Dili ni first time na naay motorized banca na nalunod sa panahon sa Sinulog Fluvial Parade. Kaniadtong January 2008 na Sinulog, adunay motorized banca pud ang nalunod. Kalouy sa diyos, wala intawon samdan o namatay,” says Alcover.

Further, among the reasons of bringing this up before the council, Alcover said, is to lay down the guidelines and move to avoid the incident from happening again.

According to the councilor, it isn’t enough reason that some participants were not registered or weren’t inspected to be wearing life jackets.

“This means that authorities should regulate the sea vessels participating in Fluvial parades. It means proper authorities must exert efforts to prohibit non-registered sea vessels to join fluvial parades,” Alcover said.

Clarifying that he doesn’t want to cause alarm, Alcover said that merely wants strict inspections and registrations for those who will be joining the fluvial processions.

In line with this, the council agreed to call for an executive session inviting the representatives of PCG-7 and the NAVFORCEN to shed light on what has transpired, as well as lay down the guidelines on the fluvial compliance and registrations. — (FREEMAN)