The Philippine Online Chronicles

When most of us were with our loved ones celebrating Christmas Eve with the traditional Media Noche or midnight meal, some Filipinos decided to travel by boat to Lubang Island in Occidental Mindoro. While they looked forward to a Christmas Day reunion with their relatives, fate decided differently. The boat they were on, the MV Catelyn B, collided with FV Anatalia northwest of Limbones Island in the early hours of Christmas Day. As of now, there are three killed and 24 missing.

This unexpected tragedy even precedes the imminent eruption of Mayon Valcano, with thousands of Bicolanos having been temporarily relocated to avert tragedy. A volcanic eruption can be more or less predicted. There are obvious signs that warn people that danger is imminent. Surely, seafaring vessels both big and small have captains trained to look out for any kind of sign, to avoid trouble from the smallest of inconvenience to the tragic loss of lives. Now we begin to hear two versions of the story, one from the crew of MV Catelyn B and another from the crew of FV Anatalia. What will follow is an inquiry by the Board of Marine Inquiry. In the meantime, families of the victims will receive the mandatory P 200,000 insurance that every ship or boat owner pays for.

All this has become routine. Most of us do not seem disturbed by maritime tragedies anymore. There was very little reaction when Marina Administrator Elena Bautista allowed two of Sulpicio Lines' ships to sail again. Thanks to the families of the victims of the MV Princess of the Stars who protested against Bautista’s decision, both the legal and moral dimensions of the problem were once again highlighted. How could Sulpicio Lines be allowed to operate after being responsible for almost 5,000 fatalities (MV Dona Paz, 4000 dead; MV Princess of the Stars, 800 dead)?

What a black Christmas gift this is to the Filipino people. The Christ Child seems to remind us of what we are, people of a peninsula, of 7,100 islands surrounded by water. If we do not take these sea tragedies seriously, more will surely come. If Marina and its head Elena Bautista continue to be tolerant of criminally liable shipping corporations, then they too must be taken to task. Aren’t they just as guilty and complicit with the perpetrators of these periodic maritime disasters which are beginning to look like Maritime Massacres? Just as the public cannot allow this government to cuddle the perpetrators of the Maguindanao Massacre, the public should not allow Marina to do the same.

Tomorrow, December 26, 2009, the families of the victims of MV Dona Paz and MV Princess of the Stars will offer mass at 10:00 a.m. at the Baywalk across from Rajah Soliman statue in Malate. We will celebrate Christmas together by praying for the thousands of victims of maritime disasters. We will appeal for justice and ask Elena Bautista and the officials of the Board of Maritime Inquiry to do their job well and protect the rights especially of the victims of maritime disasters and their families. If Administrator Bautista cannot do her job properly, then why should she be allowed to continue serving in this most delicate and important post?

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes

Kubol Pagasa

December 25, 2009

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