BMI ends Sulpicio hearing, to release report July 21

MANILA, Philippines – After hearing 28 witnesses and resource persons, the six-man Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) ended its probe into the sinking of the passenger ship M/V Princess of the Stars at noon yesterday.

Rear Admiral Ramon Liwag, BMI chairman, said their findings and recommendations will be released on July 21, exactly a month after the tragic accident that killed 232 persons.

“So far (during) the last five days we have been deliberating on the critical issues and I believe that we would be ready to send the report.,” he said.

“(But) we have to wait for the formal offer of the defense in the spirit of justice. If we receive it on Monday morning we would file it Monday afternoon. We need the formal offer of evidence.”

Liwag said they would submit their report to Coast Guard Commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, who in turn, would hand it to Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

While the BMI is an independent body, it is a “standard operating procedure” to submit the report to the PCG chief subjected for his review, he added.

Meanwhile, lawyer Ma. Victoria Lim-Florido, SLI spokeswoman, said the shipping firm is focusing efforts on three main concerns:

• Extraction of toxic cargo;

• Support for the victims’ families; and

• Livelihood assistance for affected families in Sibuyan Island.

Once the ecological time bomb is defused, recovery efforts will immediately resume, she added.

On the last hearing day, an independent witness presented by SLI, Edwin Itable, a master mariner and instructor, said that the sinking of the Princess of the Stars was “an act of God” and was not due to the negligence of the skipper, Florencio Marimon Sr.

On Liwag’s questioning, the 59-year-old Itable said he was aware that the velocity of typhoon “Frank” was between 140 to 170 kilometers per hour and that its radius was 162 nautical miles.

His experience as a master mariner was limited to navigating vessels in international waters, not in coastal waters, he added.

Itable said if he was captain of the Princess of the Stars, he would not have sailed from Manila to Cebu when the direction of the typhoon was west northwest.

He would have also used other gadgets like a barometer to track the location of the typhoon, he added.

Itable said he would have also considered the CPA (closest point of approach), which is between 60 to 70 nautical miles that would have placed the vessel within the radius of the typhoon.

He would have veered away from the direction of Frank, he added.

Another witness, Lt. Cmdr. Inocencio Rosario Jr., who led the team of divers in waters off Sibuyan Island, said he did not notice any dent or damage on the ship.

There were also no signs that the ship ran aground, he added.

The propellers were also still intact, and that there were no apparent signs that these were damaged, Rosario said.

‘No skull and bones on cargo’

The manager of the forwarding company reportedly hired by Bayer Crop Science to deliver chemical cargo to SLI, said there were no markings of skull and bones on the shipment to warn that it was toxic.

Raquel Exconde of Sea Quest said the toxic shipment was placed with other cargo inside a 20-footer container van before it was loaded on board the Princess of the Stars.

“As a common practice we do not normally inspect inside the cargo and would merely rely on the shipper to inform us,” she said.

Exconde said Bayer did not advise them that they would be handling toxic cargo.

“The documents that were passed on to me were not marked with toxic measures,” she said.

“It is the responsibility of the shipper to declare it to us. We are only trained for proper handling.”

Gov’t ready to help

The government is ready to help foreign experts commissioned to remove hazardous cargo from the Princess of the Stars that sunk off Sibuyan Island in Romblon at the height of typhoon Frank last month,

Transportation Undersecretary Ma. Elena Bautista said the Titan Salvage Co. has informed the government that it will airlift 18 tons of equipment for the retrieval operation.

SLI, owner of the ill-fated vessel, and the underwriter Oriental Assurance would pay $9 million (or P405 million) to Titan. she added,

Sulpicio lays off workers

Sulpicio Lines Inc. was forced to lay off 136 crewmembers from eight vessels docked in port following the sinking of its flagship Princess of the Stars.

More layoffs are expected next week as the shipping company continues to assess its present situation.

However, lawyer Nolie Espina, SLI counsel, said the layoff is temporary and workers will be rehired once the Maritime Industry Authority orders the resumption of operations for Sulpicio.

“We had no choice but to lay off,” Espina told The Freeman.  – With Wenna Berondo, Joeberth Ocao