EDITORIAL - Flimsy boats

Within just three days, 50 people have died and over a dozen others are still missing in two maritime accidents. Rescue teams are still scouring the waters off Masbate after the motorized boat Don Dexter Cathlyn capsized earlier this week. Authorities said the boat ran into “a sudden gust of wind” and big waves. At noon last Thursday, the pump boat Role IV capsized off Concepcion town in Iloilo, leaving at least eight people dead and four children missing. Police said the boat ran into a tornado.

Authorities do not know how many passengers were on the pump boat. The Don Dexter Cathlyn, which was equipped with outriggers, was carrying over 150 passengers. Many of the fatalities in the two accidents were children.

The boats are popular modes of inter-island transportation in this archipelago where only a handful of islands are connected by bridges. Though the boats may be flimsy, the fare is cheaper than those on regular ferries, which also keep sinking anyway despite their larger, sturdier frames. The waiting for departure is also shorter on smaller vessels.

Yet despite the popularity of the smaller boats, their operation is largely unregulated. The two accidents should prompt maritime authorities to review state policies on small-scale shipping operations. Any commercial shipping enterprise, no matter how small-scale, must be required to provide even minimal protection, such as life vests, to passengers. The fatalities and survivors of the two boats that capsized did not have life vests. Every boat that ferries people must also be required to leave a list of its passengers at the port of embarkation. This is to assist relatives and search teams in case of an accident.

Violators of these requirements should be penalized, starting with the temporary grounding of the violator’s boats for a first offense, and a complete ban on operating commercial boats after a third offense. This should be apart from criminal and civil charges that must be filed for negligence if a small boat is allowed to sail in bad weather.

Whether the commercial vessel is an ocean-going liner, a modern inter-island ferry or a banca with outriggers, public safety must not be compromised. Until the government improves its regulation of all businesses involved in mass transportation, there will be more deadly maritime accidents.