TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — A color-coding scheme will be imposed on pump boats plying the seas around Central Visayas, as one of the labeling system contained in a resolution approved recently by the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC)-7.
Provincial administrator Alfonso Damalerio II suggested the resolution urging local government units in Bohol to adopt a labeling system to monitor violations of Maritime laws and local ordinances by sea vessels.
Damalerio said the color-coding scheme would label a pump boat according to its province of origin that would enable the Philippine Coast Guard and other authorities easy monitoring if the vessel’s voyage is covered by a permit either for fishing or transporting passengers.
Governor Edgar Chatto, RPOC-7 chair, also moved that Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) be made a regular member of RPOC-7 to help address peace and order problems in the region’s seas and coastal waters.
Chatto, during the RPOC-7 meeting over the weekend, said that Central Visayas consists of islands where people travel from one to the other via the sea vessels, and this made it imperative to monitor these vessels to secure passengers.
The resolution also included a call on LGUs to enforce Executive Order 305, devolving to municipal and city governments the registration of fishing vessels three gross tonnage and below.
It further requires registration numbers to be visibly shown on the body of the pumpboats for easy recognition, with the help of barangay tanods.
Damalerio raised the suggestion in response to the report of Capt. Anelito Gabisan of the PCG during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting last November 8 saying that some fishing motor bancas have been transporting passengers without the necessary life saving measures and compliance of safety requirements.
“This can be gleaned during the observance of All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day. Undocumented or illegal motor bancas transport passengers to adjoining islands of Bohol and even to some areas in Cebu province,” Gabisan said in his report.
Undocumented voyages were also discovered after the sinking of MB/CA Ardie Express along the shoreline of Cordova, Cebu from the island of Calituban in Talibon, Bohol. The pumpboat carried 60 to 70 passengers mostly residents Calituban.
Gabisan said “the timely arrival of another motor banca and PCG rescue vessel SARV 3504 to the area deterred what would have been a disaster.”
He further explained that Marina regulates vessels three gross tonnage and above, which are allowed to carry passengers, while LGUs can regulate only sea vessels of three gross tonnage and below, which are intended for fishing only. (FREEMAN)