Sea tragedy victims’ kin question CA ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Families of casualties and survivors in the sinking of M/V Princess of the Stars in June 2008 yesterday sought relief from the Supreme Court (SC) against a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling exonerating a top executive of Sulpicio Lines in their criminal case.

Assisted by Public Attorney’s Office chief Persia Rueda-Acosta, they trooped to the SC to file a petition questioning the final decision of the CA’s 15th Division last January that granted the petition of Sulpicio’s first vice president for administration Edgar Go questioning his indictment for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In the 56-page petition, they insisted Go should be held criminally liable for the maritime tragedy.

Go, according to the petition, “deliberately failed to exercise due diligence when, in the earlier morning of June 21, 2008 at the latest, he did not direct the ship captain and his crew to drop anchor and/or seek shelter in the vicinity of Batangas despite the fact that Public Storm Signal No. 3 was already hoisted over the area of Romblon.” 

The petitioners lamented that the CA ruling came when Go was already standing trial before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 5. In fact, the prosecution panel had presented nine witnesses during the trial when the appellate court cleared Go.

“The admissions of respondent Edgar Go, as well as that of his port captain and safety officer, that the latter officers report to the former, and the former is the head of the crisis management committee, bolsters the guilt of respondent Go under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code for reckless imprudence,” the petition stated.

Go, according to the petitioners, should be made to pay for his “failure to order the master of M/V Princess of the Stars to drop anchor and take shelter despite knowing that the vessel is traveling its regular route even with Typhoon Frank.”

The petitioners cited a Philippine Coast Guard circular that it is the responsibility of the ship owner or operator to “discourage any vessel’s movement, except for sheltering purposes especially when typhoon signals are hoisted or expected to be hoisted within the area of origin, the route and the destination.”

Go’s inaction, they alleged, “is a clear gross negligence tantamount to absence of care resulting in loss of lives and properties of the riding public committed.”

In the assailed ruling, the CA held that the DOJ erred in filing the case against Go since the liabilities found against him pertained to the responsibilities of the ship’s captain, Florencio Marimon.

“That petitioner allowed the officers of the vessel to decide whether to set sail or not does not render him criminally liable. Such decision was within the authority of the captain of the vessel in coordination with the (Philippine Coast Guard) in view of the weather bulletin,” read the CA ruling.

The CA also ruled that the DOJ was wrong in indicting Go for not instructing Marimon to seek shelter or drop anchor in the middle of the storm.

It said Go – even as vice president of the firm and head of its crisis management committee – did not have the “power, authority and duty to control and decide matters pertaining to the vessel’s navigation at sea.”

It cited lack of law granting administrative officers the power to direct the vessel at sea.

The 300-ton vessel left Manila and slammed into the wrath of Typhoon Frank in the vicinity of Romblon province while on its way to Cebu in the morning of June 21, 2008.

The ship was then carrying more than 800 passengers and crewmen. Thirty-two survived the tragedy while 312 bodies were later recovered, while the others were believed trapped inside the vessel.

Retrieval operations were halted following the discovery that the ship carried a cargo of 10,000 kilograms of the pesticide endosulfan.