The Princess of the Stars Tragedy

Orange Tulip on board the M/V Princess of the Universe

the lobby

approaching the Port of Cebu

I just arrived in my hotel room when the sight of a grief stricken lady, cursing and outraged, struck me. It was an update about the sinking of the M/V Princess of the Stars. Earlier, i got myself a copy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the popular broadsheets in the Philippines while waiting for the boarding time on my way to Palawan. I kept the broadsheet for my bedtime reading.( I found out few days after that, this lady lost her parents and three brothers, the youngest of which is a minor, a 12 year old who was declared "missing" along with 751 manifested passengers and 111 crew. To date, reports indicated that there were only 59 survivors majority of which are composed of the ship crews.)

Back to my television screen, a few minutes later, was the live press conference of the Sulpicio Lines, the shipping company who owns the ill-fated ship. This is interesting, i thought, so i decided to forego watching the street parade, got my notepad and took notes. It started with a statement of sympathy being read by one of the VPs of the company, devoid of any emotion trying his best to sound sincere nevertheless. Included in the statement was the promise that the family members left behind by those who perished with the ill-fated ship will be given 200,000 Philippine pesos as compensation.

I was irritated by the smiling and in a seemingly joking mood lady in his left, the name I was disinterested to remember. I immediately disliked her and while continuously observing her on my tv screen, i cannot find the the sincerity in relation to her supposed empathy ( as she tried to express it verbally sans emotions). I also noticed that she can hardly look at the press/audience straight in the eye. I admit i am not an expert on non-verbal actions, so probably my judgment to these people was already clouded by my sympathy to the bereaved kin cursing the shipping company shown in the television earlier. Nevertheless, this lady executive tried her best to answer the questions and give the necessary information in relation to the ill-fated ship although it distracts me to see that someone has to coach her what to say from time to time. One should be fully prepared when appearing on a press conference.

During that press conference held on the 23rd after being mum since the supposed ship sinking on the 21st, the Sulpicio lines management tried to convince the press and the viewers that 1) the ship was given permit to travel, 2) they did not violate any rule, 3) the specific ship has no record of problem/s in her previous voyages as they were granted safety certificates and safety management certificates by the government authorities, and thus "seaworthy." They are wondering what really went wrong why there was engine problem, as reported by some survivors, leading to sinking. Reportedly it” ran aground” When the reporters tried to push the lady executive to give them an update about the ill-fated ship, she remarked that as much as everyone is eager about the news(that was as of Monday, June 23) the Sulpicio lines has the same or probably more amount of eagerness to know what really transpired because it is their business and that ship was bought for $5 million and its on top of the line. Yes, its a major loss for the business and yes, on top of the already lost property the company will further loss more money if and only if- they will fulfill their promise the soonest possible time that- they will pay the heirs of those who perished with the ship. What made my TV watching very distasteful was that lady executive’s answer when asked about how much would the company losses in revenue? She answered, “ I don’t want to think about it because I might end up crying” . Does this mean that the loss of around 800 or more people has not made her cry yet but the financial losses can make her cry?

It is important to note that the Sulpicio executives only talked about the passengers giving important information that it was allowed to ship 23,800 gross tonnage. On hindsight it appears that it is underloaded having 751 passengers and 111 crew on board given the capacity 0f 1,992 people. They never mentioned about the cargo capacity and worse, they kept mum about the dangerous endosulfan intended for Del Monte Philippines that was also on the passenger ship(that they succesfully switched the cargo from its intended cargo ship adding up to the jeopardy that such toxic chemical is prohibited in a passenger ship and now can cause probable damage to the waters, marine and human life and the environment ). This was only discovered few days after that press conference, when Del Monte reported to the government authority about the dangerous cargo which made the rescue operations to be on halt.

I took a deep breath and remembered my own experience in one of their ships almost a couple of years ago- the M/V Princess of the Universe. The initial plan was for me to accompany a friend hiring a container van for her stuff from Manila to Cebu and then to Siquijor. She changed her mind the last minute and took the air transport herself, and waited for the cargo and me in Cebu City. It was supposed to be around 21 hours trip anyway so when i leave Manila at 2 PM, my expected arrival in Cebu City the next day will be 11 am. The ship arrived in the afternoon. Excited for my first interisland vessel trip as a grown-up I went on anyway. While walking on the viewing deck, i met 2 students who decided to temporarily stop their studies in Manila due to financial constraints. I was very excited on this adventure and on my own, tried to visit all the decks and compared and contrasted the accommodations, dining halls and other amenities.(I heard that some interisland vessels have their own swimming pools and other features just like the cruise ships but found out later that the There was a sing-along on board so i sang a few songs to the delight of some passengers, crew and few sea marshall( these are men in uniform assigned to secure the ship from terrorist attacks just like the bombing of a Superferry ship sometime in 2004). Out of sheer curiosity i attempted to go where the navigators are, to ask some questions but passengers are prohibited to go there. Eager to ask questions about the vessel and the travel, I started a conversation with the ship crews( who were busy painting the ramps earlier) when I saw them resting on the viewing deck. Telling me that sometimes their job is boring, they were eager to find a girl on board, travelling alone, interested about their lives. I immediately asked what has been taking our trip too long than expected- and i got a dreaded information that- one engine had trouble, so it must be fixed while the other one is in use. A bit later, i was told, the one who just got fixed was in trouble again and the other engine was having problems too. I was nervous so i stayed on topmost part of the ship- where the lifevests and lifeboats are, thinking about the movie "Titanic" and was wary about my survival if something untoward happens. The crew then assured me that it would only float for a couple of hours or shorter( as this has happened in the past anyway and the engine was fixed) and later in the day both of the engines will be running actively again. Besides, its November and the sea is calm, the waves are low sans storm. A seaman( working with a foreign vessel) who overheard my conversation with the crew refuted it when the crew left and told me that we had been running on a single engine since midnight. He informed me that he opted to take the boat because he shopped a lot for his family in Manila and will be paying a lot of excess baggage if he goes home by plane. We took turns taking pictures of each other on the top deck and i gamely posed for him when he requested to take my photos using his new camera.

I only agreed to go down for coffee when i was assured that the M/V Princess of the Universe is already running in normal condition. The best memory that i have about that trip however was watching the sunset alone a day before (i told everybody to leave me alone because i am both a photographer and a writer). I was able to enjoy the few precious minutes watching the sunset , while i was in the middle of the sea. To date, i consider it as the most beautiful sunset that i have ever seen.

I never ventured to ride in any of the Sulpicio fleets again, as my family and friends warned me sternly about it. I was contemplating however, to ride a competitor's ship on my trip to Palawan. Although taking the same route, and owned by the same company, the M/V Princess of the Stars and the M/V Princess of the Universe are different ships, and circumstances were probably different. But I am not ruling out some possibilities that led to the ship’s sinking at the height of the storm.

Reports compiled by Eliza Victoria( Inquirer Research,Philippine Daily Inquirer dated June 23, 2008 ) indicated that since December 1987, that this company has figured out in at least three maritime disasters(with the Princess of the Stars, it has now increased to 4-Orange Tulip), including the world's worst peacetime tragedy. the report went on as follows:"On December 20, 1987, MV Dona Paz on its way to Manila from Tacloban, collided with Caltex hired MT Vector where only 26 people were rescued and left more than 4,000 dead. On October 29, 1988, the Board of Marine Inquiry absolved and held MT Vector at fault for the collision. In 1992 however Manila Regional Trial Court held Sulpicio solely responsible for the accident and ordered paying the heirs of two victims 1.2 million pesos. Four years later, Court of Appeals absolved the shipping company and laid the blame on the vector and Caltex. In January 2006 however, the court cleared Caltex of any liability for the 1987 sea tragedy. By then, many relatives of the victims had settled out of court.

The latest ruling was handed down in September 2006 the CA affirming the lower court decision ordering Sulpicio Lines to pay P14.9 million to the family of a geodetic enginner who died in the maritime disaster. However, the ruling did not assign criminal responsibility to Sulpicio Lines.
Less than a year later, another vessel made it in the headlines as Typhoon Unsang lashed Eastern Visayas on October 24, 2008. A day before, storm signal no. 2 was raised over Leyte but the following day, Storm Signal No. 3 was hoisted but authorities allowed the Dona Marilyn from Manila to Tacloban. The Dona Marilyn encountered huge waves and capsized, leaving at least 250 people dead. the Board of Marine Inquiry later concluded that the sinking was a force maheure or " an act of God" and that no one was responsible for the sea tragedy.

Ten years later, the then largest ship of the Sulpicio lines fleet sank at the height of Typhoon Gading. MV Princess of the Orient was allowed to sail from Manila to Cebu City. the 24 year old ship went down near Manila Bay leaving at least 150 people dead. In September 2000, the Department of Justice junked the criminal case against Sulpicio in connection with the sinking of the Princess of the Orient saying that the firm could not be held criminally liable for the death of scores of passengers"

If we add up around 800 people on the fourth and latest tragedy, the fatalities will be around 6,000 lives. I was unconvinced when this lady executive argued that each tragedy have varying circumstances- where clearly, three tragedies were caused by typhoons except for the MV Dona Paz colliding with the MT Vector. When pushed by more questions from the press, in exasperation, the lady executive argued that nobody expected this to happen- and if everybody is eager to know what really transpired, the company is eager to find out too and this is an "act of God." I placed a big question mark in my notepad. Is the sinking of the ship- an act of God?

I will argue that all those four tragedies involving the Sulpicio lines were clearly, an act of man. First, despite the finger pointing of responsibilities to one another, there was the knowledge of inclement weather. The storm signal no.1 has been hoisted in Manila by the PAG-ASA, the weather forecasting agency of the country. Manila is the point of origin of the ship scheduled to travel to Cebu City on that fateful Friday night, June 20. The more prudent shipping competitors cancelled their own trips scheduled on Friday night while those already at the sea took shelter somewhere. The M/V Princess of the Stars reportedly took the regular schedule and the regular route.

Second, the Philippine Coast Guard gave clearance for the trip to travel. No less than the Philippine President out for travel out of the country accosted the head of this government agency via teleconferencing. She was fuming mad about the situation in contrast to the smiling Sulpicio lady executive. The shipping company repeatedly insisted that a clearance to travel was given thus they should not be put to blame. Personally, I have questions about the role of these concerned government agencies in implementing maritime laws, if there were any, or the applicability of the existing laws to the contemporary situations, and the possibility of learning from the previous tragedies, have they done active revision or crafting new laws respondent to the times?

Third, given three records of great loss of lives and property by the same company, did they ever took the initiative to revise and formulate company policies with the ultimate objective of eliminating further losses in the future? As chronicled by the various reporters, the Sulpicio lines figured in sea accident in 1987, in 1988, 1998, the first was through collision and the latter, including the latest was sunk by the typhoons. Delayed trips means loss of money and the more trips would mean more money coming in, which of course is the reason for any organisation venturing in business. Given their statistics of losses, have this company found the initiatives or figured out something towards communicating to their clients about possible considerations when natural calamities or “ act of God’ results to postponement or cancellation of scheduled trips?

“It was the master’ call " was a statement from the lady executive of the shipping company. Since the captain was still missing( unless he acquired the surviving skills that the shipping crew on board had and survived anyway) it is therefore most convenient for the company to put the blame on the ship captain. Without any company policy to adhere to for cancelling a trip, or fearing any disciplinary action for not pushing through the scheduled trip, then probably it was really the master’s call. Somehow, I was wondering anyway given the modern communication systems and mobile phones’ popularity, was a few calls to the shipping lines executive prior to finally leaving the port of call despite the impending storm impossible to do? Despite the clearances given by the coastguards and other what have you safety certificates, was it difficult to negotiate a possible postponement of a scheduled trip? Would penalties to delayed cargo arrival if there is any( which makes me think if it could be possible for passengers to claim compensation for delayed arrivals as well)?

Fourth, given the fact that it was indeed his call then Captain Florencio Marimon had some judgments and decisions which eventually led to the tragedy. Probably he was too confident and too daring to proceed with the trip as scheduled. Another factor is how the captain acted on crisis during those most trying moments in the ship. Is it possible that the “ abandon ship” call was way too late for the passengers since a lot of bodies discovered, sadly- have worn their life vests already? Is there a possibility that at the height of the storm, the captain was “somewhere else? “ Let us look at the facts about the worse maritime tragedy in the world as accounted by Atty Jose Sison(a Law Each Day, Philippine Star, June 27, 2008): "The Dona Paz inquiry clearly established that the 20 year old vesel was reconditioned and remodelled by adding two more decks to increase passenger capacity. In that ill-fated voyage, as many as 4,000 paseengers were allowed to board despite its maximum alowable capacity of up to 1,000 only hence the life vests and life boats were obviously not enough. Then as the ship swished through the choppy waters in the darkness of the night, witnesses even saw the ship captain playing mahjong since the ship was clear anyway. Under such situation, the ship's crew failed to notice the oil tanker and in a matter of seconds, the top heavy ship capsized bringing with her more than 4,000 people in the bottom of Tablas Straits."

Considering that the ship did not undergo any refurbishing to accommodate more passengers, then the decisions of the “master” is very crucial during this time. Was he able to communicate proper orders on time, or just like the other ship crews who luckily survived, instead of taking charge in the safe abandoning of the passengers- took care of their own survival? I am not unhappy that these crews survived the ordeal, but taking time ( if there was left) to help the passengers should have led to less casualties.

Fifth, there a possibility that an engine problem occurred at the height of the storm. This has probably made the supposed to be on “ top of the line” very helpless and immediately sank when huge waves and strong winds hit it? How worthy is the term “ seaworthy” after all? How do authorities find out if a vessel is indeed “ seaworthy? “

Sixth, there is a possibility that the ship is overloaded( albeit travelling with only close to 50% of its passenger capacity) that it is overloaded with cargo. The Sulpicio lines readily gave records about the seemingly underloaded ship as far as passenger statistics are concerned but there was hardly any information given on the cargo being carried by the ill-fated ship. Del Monte Phillippines, Inc. later informed by the shipping company that their toxic chemical endosulfan ( which Sulpicio successfully switched to that passenger ship instead of being carried by a cargo ship) sank with the M/V Princess of the Orient took the initiative to inform the government agency regulating fertilizer and pesticides that the public was aware about the danger thus putting the rescue operations to a halt.

Another segment of the report on the 23rd of June was the forming of another Board of Marine Inquiry. Given the past tragedies,( including those of other shipping companies in the past 21 years) did these board of inquiries and task forces learned few lessons at all? Did the government authorities tasked to craft and implement maritime laws recommended to revise policies based from these lessons? How stren are the laws being implemented if there was/ or were any? Can corruption be a factor for the seemingly weak stance despite the past sea tragedies of which the Sulpicio lines had the largest casualty?

I can go on and on, writing anything in this blog implicating anybody that I think should be responsible for this tragedy but I opt to stop to make my point. My previous arguments will point out that, the sinking of the M/V Princess is clearly, "an act of man." This does not necessarily mean that the sole responsibility lies on the “ master” alone as the Sulpicio Lines has tried to insinuate during that press conference but a combination of lack of capacity, lacking resources to operate fully, moral/ personal values of the concerned, social and political will on the part of the Sulpicio lines, the shipping industry and the concerned government authorities towards safeguarding the lives and property as the utmost concern when natural calamity like the typhoon enters the Philippine area of responsibility.

But we should not end up finger pointing those who we think are responsible or exonerating those who are not culpable in the tragedy. If we failed to learn our lessons in the past then probably we have to learn the lessons and do something about it. This asks for a closer look in the maritime laws, the implementation of these laws, continued or stronger fight against corruption and strengthening the capabilities of each government agencies like the weather forecasting agency and the coast guards and making the shipping industry more socially responsible. Together, we should work in order that no similar tragedy would happen again in the future.

And I wish that the lives of those who perished in this tragedy will not be treated as mere statistics.

I am still wondering how the compensation of 200,000 pesos per fatality has been computed given the value of human’s life. A lot of the surviving relatives might opt to receive this and settle out of court, just like what the relatives of past victims did in the past 21 years. Considering the slow paced and arguably flawed justice system in this country( it took a long emotional and financial arduous court battle of 12 years for M/V Dona Paz survivors) the victims’ immediate relatives can find the 200,000 pesos useful as soon as possible and try to move on, rather than dragging the case in court which will probably take another dozen years.

I just hope that no similar tragedy of bigger or lesser extent would happen in the future. This also comes with the wish of not seeing this lady executive from Sulpicio Lines again on another press conference about another ship from their fleet. It’s sad that the shipping company can blame the weather, even God probably, the government agencies tasked to implement maritime laws but they at all cost would not admit that part of it, they are at fault over such fortuitous event.

I pray that the lady who had the courage to speak out her anger, agony and grief would in time, accept the circumstances no matter how hard it would be, find healing and move on with her life. And may all those survivors of the remaining 800 or so fatalities find solace in their terrible pains and searing losses.