Being right rather than popular in maritime

In her recent State of the Nation address, President Arroyo said “I would rather be right than popular” referring to her fiscal reforms. That quote would have been equally applicable to the maritime industry had the president been serious about an overhaul. It would give government and industry players a serious assessment on whether roll-on-roll-off ships are safe and viable and if port configurations are compatible with these vessels.

Apparently in her attempt to be impressive, President Gloria Arroyo’s speechwriter copied, if plagiarized, from Henry Clay’s famous and overused quote, “I would rather be right than president.” But Henry Clay is Henry Clay. He is a man in American politics so often mentioned as a possible President, so often nominated or proposed for nomination but never got close to becoming president. It was during his Senate speech in 1850 that Henry Clay was quoted as saying, “I would rather be right than President.”

In her call to overhaul the maritime industry, the president would have to abide by her own words of “being right rather than popular.” That means it is not enough to dangle a list of port infrastructures. What is more important is to make sure that ships docking on these port infrastructures are safe for travel.

Abiding by the right-rather-than-popular principle, overhauling the maritime industry would have to determine, among others, what type of ship best fits the port contours of this country. There must be a realistic look into the capabilities of our domestic shipbuilding industry before going into port infrastructures. Why do we insist on building RORO ports when it still needs to be reviewed whether RORO ships continue to be viable and feasible.

The tragedies over the past two years have brought to surface despicable concerns about the shipping industry. Among these are that wooden hulled ships ought to be phased out, that safety records of roll-on-roll-off ships ought to be assessed and that oil tankers ought to abide with the double-hulled policy. Be right, rather than popular. How is it that after the Maritime Industry Authority has made repeated promises of having gone through the depths of ship configurations, this country still cannot wean itself from importing second hand vessels.

How can we say we would rather be right than popular when safety enforcement is anomalous and meting justice to culprits of maritime disasters is dubious? For instance in the recent MV Blue Water Princess tragedy, investigators of the Coast Guard’s marine board inquiry said that improper stowage and absence of lashing caused the ship to lose its stability, list heavily on its side and eventually ran aground as water rushed into its deck while its cargo of trucks and cars toppled like dominoes. It also brings to light as to whether roll-on-roll-off vessels can really withstand the nature of the country’s wave swells and difficult weather conditions.

Instead of looking into the implications, the Coast Guard stopped at narration and cause of the accident and never dug to flush out the culprits.

It will be recalled that Marina has taken it upon itself to check safety management compliance and ship seaworthiness before departure. If Marina authorities did check, they would have seen the unlashed cargoes or the stowage plan. In the aftermath of the tragedy, only then did Marina issue a memorandum requiring all roll-on-roll-off capable vessels to lash or chain down rolling cargo to the vessel’s deck while in transit.

Be right rather than popular, if the Coast Guard were to follow this presidential call, would they axe the safety enforcers for lapses. The price of doing right is sometimes high.

The families of MV Blue Water victims will reportedly get indemnities of at least P2.2 million. But even doing that won’t right the wrong in the shipping industry. It won’t right poor safety enforcement, it won’t right negligence in ship and port infrastructure nor would it right another accident from happening. Right is always right and wrong is always wrong. And we must learn to separate the two.