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Shortly after Marina lifted the ban on the passenger ships of Sulpicio Lines and allowed two of the said company’s ships to sail, two smaller vessels sank one after the other in the last days of December 2009. Thus, the last decade can be called a decade of sea tragedies. It can also be called a decade of forced disappearances and massacres. It seems that if we are not vigilant, the last decade including the new one may well be called decades of impunity where violators and criminals are prosecuted only for show and are eventually allowed to walk out unpunished and free.
Shortly after Marina lifted the ban on the passenger ships of Sulpicio Lines and allowed two of the said company’s ships to sail, two smaller vessels sank one after the other in the last days of December 2009. Thus, the last decade can be called a decade of sea tragedies. It can also be called a decade of forced disappearances and massacres. It seems that if we are not vigilant, the last decade including the new one may well be called decades of impunity where violators and criminals are prosecuted only for show and are eventually allowed to walk out unpunished and free.
Today, I say mass for the families of the victims of MV Catalyn B. I pray with and for them to have faith in the justice of God and faith in the power of love within them. The struggle for truth and justice in our country is similar to the struggle of a drowning person desperately looking for something to hold on to so that he may keep afloat. The big shipping corporations and their partners and friends in government and the courts of law are like unfriendly seas ready to devour anyone who dares to challenge their power and authority.
Compared to Sulpicio Lines Inc., the San Nicolas Shipping Corporation may not be as big. It however has the same capacity to get big-time lawyers and pull connections here and there to buy time against the less fortunate families of their poor victims.
The sea is not our enemy here, but another sea or ocean of maritime irresponsibility and injustice. Hearings are heard at the Maritime Industry Authority. The big shipping corporations will be represented by equally big lawyers or law firms. The hearings can drag on for decades the way they did in the MV Dona Paz case. Meanwhile, the families of the victims of maritime disasters slowly lose the capacity to attend hearings and meetings. Indeed every day, week, month, year of delay is an advantage to the big entities, allowing their lethal floating coffins to continue their maritime massacres with impunity. There was no justice for the victims of MV Dona Paz. So far there is still no justice for the victims of MV Princess of the Stars. What will happen to the victims of MV Catalyn B? Will the San Nicolas Shipping Corporation use the law to their advantage and exploit the poverty of their passengers in this tedious legal battle?
Government agencies, MARINA in particular, should protect the riding public above all and should expeditiously prosecute and penalize erring corporations. If MARINA ends up taking the side of the erring shipping corporations against the families of the victims, it becomes equally culpable and liable. If MARINA Administrator Ma. Elena H. Bautista cannot discipline criminally irresponsible and abusive shipping corporations, then she should say so and resign. Lately, she even lifted the ban on Sulpincio passenger ships and allowed two ships to sale. Isn’t this adding insult to injury?
Enough innocent citizens have drowned. Will we also allow their families to drown in this sea of maritime irresponsibility and injustice?
Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
Asian Human Rights Commission
January 7, 2010
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