Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez formed the seven-member panel, headed by Coast Guard deputy commandant Rear Adm. Domingo Estera, and gave it 30 days to complete its probe.
A team of investigators is in Lucena, Quezon, to determine what caused the fire that razed the MV Maria Carmela, a 680-ton passenger and cargo vessel that was carrying at least 290 people and several vehicles at that time..
More than 200 people were rescued and around two dozen people remained missing.
The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) said it would revoke the license to operate of Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. (MSLI), which owned the Carmela, if it is found guilty of violating maritime regulations.
Montenegro maintained yesterday that it followed safety standards.
"Our safety record in close to 35 years of operations with not a single record of accident, will bear us out," the company said in a statement to the media. "We cannot compromise, nor have compromised, with the safety of our passengers."
MSLI general manager Vicente Montenegro Jr. said in the statement the firm continued to provide financial, funeral and medical assistance to victims of the disaster and their families, and that they have spent more than P2 million for the effort.
Montenegro also said 10 of the firm’s 12 roll-on, roll-off vessels have resumed plying their routes after inspection by the Coast Guard showed they comply with government safety and seaworthiness regulations.
To make it easier to account for victims in future sea tragedies, Marina is drafting an order requiring ship owners to list non-paying passengers and crewmen in manifests.
"Shipping lines do not register non-paying passengers, the crew and other ship employees in the manifest and this affects search and rescue operations when there is an accident," Marina Administrator Oscar Sevilla explained.
Yesterday, a Philippine Navy boat left Lucena to bring the bodies of 14 victims to their families in Masbate.
An initial Coast Guard investigation indicated that the Carmela – authorized to carry 334 – was overloaded and 81 people were not listed in the manifest because they were non-paying passengers.
Marina may also tighten regulations on combustible cargo aboard vessels.
Several survivors said the fire broke out in the ship’s hold. A cargo of coconut meat — raw material for vegetable oil — served as fuel to the fire, they said.
Aside from that angle, investigators also suspect that the fire was started by a discarded cigarette butt, or by a cooking fire, or a spark triggered by a vehicle whose engine was running.
The Carmela, which set sail from Masbate late last Wednesday, carried a number of trucks packed with dried coconut meat and cattle. It caught fire around 7:30 a.m. last Thursday near Pagbilao Chica island, about an hour away from Lucena, its destination.
The inquiry board will subpoena the Carmela’s captain and crew members and other witnesses.