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Aquino to continue roro program T


BY DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER


HE touted Nautical Highway project launched by the unpopular previous government will apparently push


through under the term of President Benigno Aquino 3rd.


Besides facilitating the movement of goods and people across the ar- chipelago, the roll-on, roll-off (roro) programs offer transporta- tion alternatives that help mitigate the dangers of pure sea travel. Aneli Lontoc, undersecretary for maritime transport of the Depart- ment of Transportation and Com- munications, said that roro programs of the previous administration would continue to reduce passenger and cargo transport costs as well as travel time within the Philippines. ”We will continue the roro


projects. We are a maritime coun- try,” Lontoc told The Manila Times. Roro is a system designed to carry rolling stock cargo that does not re-


■ TRAGEDIES FROM A1


AQUINO GOVT MOVES TO END SEA TRAGEDIES


the national economy and pro- viding employment.


The most recent accidents include the Aboitiz Transport System Corp.’s SuperFerry 9, which sank off Zam- boanga with almost 1,000 passen- gers and crew, and Sulpicio Lines’ MV Princess of the Stars, which sank with more than 700 people aboard. The worst maritime disaster in the


world happened in the Philippines in 1987, when MV Doña Paz sank after colliding with an oil tanker in Manila Bay. In that accident, 4,375 passengers died.


Data from the National Statisti- cal Coordination Board shows that 1,228 maritime fatalities were re- corded from 2000 to 2006.


Weather forecasting One measure that the government


was looking to prevent maritime dis- asters, Lontoc said, was the reliabil- ity of weather forecast. ”Accurate weather forecast is a key, especially during typhoon season,” Lontoc explained, adding that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) de- cides whether a vessel would be per- mitted to sail during a storm. But the decision depends on the weather forecast supplied the national weather bureau, the Philippine At- mospheric, Geophysical and Astro- nomical Services Administration, she told The Times. ”It’s important for our coast guard


to have an accurate and consistent weather forecast,” she added. Besides the reports from the


weather bureau, Lontoc said that the government was looking at subscrib- ing to the weather forecast services from Japan, Hawaii and the Na- tional Aeronautics and Space Ad- ministration—all respected for their higher reliability.


Lontoc added that coast guard also issued guidelines last year on grounding vessels, taking into con- sideration ship’s weight class. Under the new rules—titled “Guidelines on Movement of Vessels During Heavy Weather”—the coast guard prohibits vessel less than 1,000 gross tons from sailing when public storm Signal No. 1, the low- est in a ranking, has been raised the weather bureau.


When the typhoon classification reaches Signal No. 2 or stronger, no vessels, even the biggest ones, are al- lowed to sail within the point of ori- gin or route or point of destination. Prior to this circular, the coast guard banned all vessels from sail- ing only when storm Signal No. 3 or 4 are raised.


”The PCG is now more con-


servative. It’s better to err on the side of caution than take the risk,” Lontoc said.


Choppers, other resources Lontoc also told The Times that the


Transportation department was set- ting aside P1.6 billion to purchase new maritime disaster response heli- copter to strengthen the rescue op- eration of the coast guard during sea tragedy and other missions when typhoons strike. ”We have included in our [depart-


ment’s] budget the purchase of two choppers next year. Our target is [to acquire] seven helicopters, but we don’t have the funds. Maybe we can buy more in the next two to three years,” she said. At present, the coast guard has only two helicopters.


In the proposed national budget


next year, the allocation for the DOTC is P32 billion. The Transportation department official said that the government would be spending P151 million next year to rehabilitate the coast guard’s lighthouses in the country to ensure safety of lives at sea. As of last year, 95 lighthouses out of 588 nationwide were inoperable.


Coast guard and Marina Plus, Lontoc said that the coast


guard would be hiring 500 addi- tional personnel to boost its rescue operations capabilities. ”They need 1,000 people, but


they were only give just 500,” Lontoc said, adding that there are about 5,000 existing coast guard personnel. Last year, then President Gloria


Arroyo signed the Republic Act 9993, or the Philippine Coast Guard Act of 2009, which aims to enhance mari- time safety and prevent sea tragedies. The law formally transfers the coast guard from the Department of National Defense to Transportation and Communications department. The coast guard, however, will revert back the Defense department if war breaks out—and only if congres- sional approval.


Lontoc also said that Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) was proactively checking all vessels, even when they were docked, to ensure safety.


Emerson Lorenzo, administrator of Marina said that his agency would prioritize the safety of the maritime sector by using Geographical Infor- mation System (GIS). GIS systems are used in cartogra-


phy, remote sensing, land surveying, utility management, natural resource management, photogrammetry, ge- ography, urban planning, emergency management, navigation and local- ized search engines. He added that to prevent mari- time accidents, the government should ensure the continued sea- worthiness of ships in operation; officers and crew manning such ships are qualified and competent; provide and maintain the needed aids to navigation. “It bears stressing, however, that, accidents, by their very nature, would continue to remain as a pos- sible occurrence, but the probabil- ity for such could be managed and reduced,” Lorenzo said.


The maritime agency earlier is- sued rules and procedures on the ap- proval of lifejackets and lifebuoys for ships to ensure the quality and foster safety of life at sea. Lorenzo added that Marina was refinalizing a draft Philippine Ma- rine Act of 2009 filed earlier in Con- gress. They hope to reintroduce the bill in the new Congress.


The Philippine Marine Act pro- poses to formulate and implement a 10-year Maritime Development Plan to cover, among others, adopt- ing a single Philippine registry, and establish an Admiralty Court that will hear all cases on maritime con- tracts, torts, injuries and offenses. The bill also aims to establish a National Maritime Authority, which will be attached to the Transportation and Communications department. The authority will be responsible and accountable for the implemen- tation of public maritime laws, rules and regulations.


■ A priest blesses empty coffins symbolizing the hundreds of unidentified passengers of a ferry that capsized in 2008. PHOTO BY JESSIE LAURETA


■ PRINCESS FROM A1


Victims’ kin in ‘Princess’ still waiting for justice


locate to Cebu. But Stella and Heidee were left behind and promised to just follow them. Boarding the Princess of the Stars,


Nilo, 50; his wife Esther, 48; and their children Jonil, 17; Banjo, 10; Dodgie, 9; Jackie, 8; and Jacknil, 7 went off for Cebu. Stella and Heidee didn’t realize then that it would be the last time they would be seeing their parents and sib- lings alive. The same goes for the rela- tives of the other victims of this sea tragedy now considered as among the worst maritime disasters in the world. Of the more than 800 people aboard the Princess of the Stars when it capsized, only 57 survived, the Phil- ippine Coast Guard reported. About 350 bodies had been recovered and 515 people went missing.


Efforts to identify the remains of the victims continue with Public At- torneys Office volunteering in the identification of some of the bodies with the help of the Independent Fo- rensic Group, an organization of fo- rensic anthropologists. Likely, some relatives of the victims


may no longer have the chance to see the remains of their loved ones and whatever memories of them will surely be kept.


Stella, for instance, said she recalled the moments before the tragedy. Her parents sent them text messages ask- ing for prayers upon sensing they may be in danger as big waves and strong winds hit the vessel. She and her sister can now only imagine what could have been had the tragedy not happened. Some relatives of the victims still


hope, despite the high improbability, that somewhere, their relatives have survived. Some have already accepted the fact that they were gone while oth- ers had to undergo emotional distress


and mental anguish at the thought of being left by their loved ones.


Payments delayed But what did the shipping company


do to at least alleviate the distress suf- fered by the relatives of the victims? Immediately after the incident, Sulpicio Lines promised to assist the relatives of the victims. “We fully understand the feelings of the people, and we are prepared to help them in any way we can, but as of now there is really no information available,” Sulpicio Lines’ Vice Presi- dent Edgar Go said and vowed to give P200,000 to the victims’ families and financial assistance to the survivors. Last month, The Manila Times re- ported that the shipping company has paid only 40 of the victims’ relatives. According to Acosta, Oriental Assur- ance Corp., Sulpicio’s insurance pro- vider, has paid its obligation to the company, but Sulpicio Lines has not given any payment to most of the vic- tims’ families. Because of this, the families said would file an estafa case against the company. Go and the Princess of the Stars cap- tain, Florencio Marimon, now face charges of reckless imprudence result- ing in multiple homicide, multiple physical injuries and damage to prop- erty before the Regional Trial Court of Manila. Besides the criminal cases, officials of the shipping company also face 130 civil cases filed in separate courts in Manila and Cebu City. Acosta said that a total of 71 civil


cases were filed in Manila while 58 cases were pending in Cebu. Time should heal, even during the tragic case of the Princess of the Stars. But perhaps not for the family of the vic- tims who are still waiting for justice.


quire cranes for loading or unloading. Lontoc said that the expansion of roro ports system by installing 74 modular ports nationwide to link provinces and reduce the cost of in- ter-island transport of goods re- mained as a priority under the Aquino administration. She added, however, that because of budget constraints, the Philippine Ports Authority was tasked to review the phasing of the prioritization. The projects will be funded by an P11-billion loan from BNP Paribas. The project involves the nation- wide installation, establishment and development of 74 roro ports for mobility enhancement, re- mote island development and so-


cial reform support.


The project would use prefabri- cated steel ports composed of five interdependent modular parts such as pier or causeway connecting to shore, mooring platform, manual ramp dolphin and passenger termi- nal with solar power utilities.


Part of new plan Lontoc said that the improvement


and expansion of roro ports would be included in the new Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. Malacañang earlier directed the formulation of plan and the Me- dium Term Investment Program for 2011 to 2106. According to an earlier study


made by Asian Development Bank (ADB), the government’s roro pro- grams was credited with reducing transport costs from 10 percent to 60 percent. ADB also reported that more tourists were using roro be- cause of its affordability.


Compared with other modes of transport, such as air and tradi- tional shipping, roro offered a


A special report 2 The Sunday Times SUNDAY S eptember 19, 2010


competitive—and safer— means of transporting passengers, the ADB reported. For example, tourism receipts in


Boracay from 2003 to 2006 rose by more than 50 percent. In Iloilo and in Dapitan, receipts rose 30 percent and 200 percent, respectively. Data from the Philippine Ports


Authority showed that the govern- ment has invested about P9 billion in roro facilities. In January 2003, President Gloria


Arroyo signed Executive Order 170 outlining the backbone of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway. The Nautical Highway is one of President Arroyo’s priority pro- grams to ensure fast and economi- cal movement of goods and peo- ple. It was also designed to help boost domestic tourism and trade. It covers all routes from Mindanao to Luzon. The Nautical Highway includes the three major road systems—the Western Nautical Highway, Central Nautical Highway and Eastern Nau- tical Highway.


■ POLICY FROM A1 Expert blames poor policy


through water would be very wide- spread. The fact that we are an ar- chipelago means that this travel takes place at many different levels of industries,” he said. Indeed, it is not easy to navigate through the dynamics of Philippine maritime management. Batongbacal explained that various types of ves- sels are plying the country’s archipelagic waters. Each type of ves- sel—from small bangkas to large con- tainer vessels—will have their own modes of operations or practices. Meanwhile, thousands of ports scattered all around coastal cities and municipalities operate under different conditions—from small fishing ports to large industrial ports like those found in major coastal cities such as Manila and Cebu. However, Batongbacal said, “The system of transportation between these ports are also not very clear.” He illustrated that Philippine ports encounter heavy traffic daily. If a mishap occurs in a particular port, it will affect the entire network of maritime activity, posing dangers to vessels setting out to sea. In order to address the challenges


posed by the complexities of mari- time management in the Philippine archipelago, Batongbacal suggested coming up with an integrated sys- tem that takes into account natures of both sea vessel and port. “In order for your economy to really take advantage of your ship- ping industry with respect to ships and ports, the operations of these different ports and ships must really be integrated so that you can very efficiently transport cargo and peo- ple,” Batongbacal said. An integrated system would en- tail an effective system of coordina- tion between and among ports. Moreover, the integration of mari- time management should take into account the degree of economic ac- tivity in a coastal area and its infra- structure requirements.


Off the radar The reason why sea travel in the


Philippines remains mostly unregu- lated is because people take it for granted. “We are so used to [sea travel],” said Batongbacal. He added that since sea travel was “too natu- ral” for many of the country’s citi- zens, authorities neglect to take into account the natural complexities of maritime management in an archipelagic setting. Indeed, sea travel is deeply em- bedded into Philippine culture since Filipinos have used that mode of travel since time imme- morial as the main method of in- ter-island transportation. “People are not really aware of [complexities]. It’s totally transpar- ent because we take it for granted,” Batongbacal said. “[Sea travel] is like breathing. You don’t think about regulating your breathing. You take it for granted,” he added. According to Batongbacal, it took a spate of sea accidents last year to call public attention again to the need for coming up with an effec- tive maritime safety policy. However, Batongbacal suspects that most of the accidents at sea oc- cur at the level of smaller passenger vessels such as inter-island ferries. He added that it is the same class of vessel that frequently ply the coun- try’s archipelagic waters. “There are built-in weaknesses, built in risks in that kind of ship- ping,” he said. For one, small sea vessels are de- signed in such a way that the per- son who steers and controls the en- gine is placed at the back of the ves- sel while a person in front signals the directions. Moreover, such ves- sels are not equipped with any ad- vanced navigational instruments.


Too small to notice Accidents in that level of activity,


Batongbacal explained, remain in- visible to government authorities. He cited that government safety regulations, such as memorandum circulars usually issued by the Mari- time Industry Authority, address only specific classes of vessels. Those vessels belong mainly to the indus- trialized sector, such as container vessels, large passenger ships and bulk carriers.


“When you look at the industri-


alized sector, the kinds of regula- tions that they put in place are based on the technology. They will regu- late the design, they will tell you were to put the pilot’s position, what kind of equipments should be there,” Batongbacal said. However, imposing regulations based on the kind of technology, which should be present in a vessel, would be unavailing for the smaller and cheaper vessels whose owners cannot afford to abide by the set standards. “When it comes to the bangka, it’s prac- tically unregulated,” Batongbacal noted. Since technological impositions


would be too stiff in terms of regu- latory practices, Batongbacal sug- gested formulating more responsive safety policies.


Decentralizing regulation Batongbacal proposed devolving


the regulatory functions of govern- ment maritime agencies to local governments, particularly those situ- ated along the country’s coastlines. “With our archipelagic setting, with the number of coastal munici- palities, definitely you cannot have a centralized kind of regulatory sys- tem. You really need to decentral- ized it, you need to put monitoring enforcement down to the coastal level,” he said.


Batongbacal explained that coastal municipalities were too pre- occupied with land-based economic activities, such as agriculture and market trading. He admitted that he has yet to identify a single munici- pal or, at least, provincial legislation that deals primarily with sea travel. The proposed centralized regime of regulation, Batongbacal ex- plained, was copied mainly from the practices of other countries that, he said, would be mostly incompat- ible with the Philippine setting. “Ours is a different type of [mari- time] industry. It’s very diverse. Whereas, in other countries, it’s highly mechanized and capital in- tensive,” he explained. “We can learn from them [other countries’] systems, techniques. But we need to find our own way,” he added.


Merely emulating the practices abroad or blindly adopting policies stemming from international con- ventions and treaties would render compliance by the Philippine mari- time industry a mere superficial act. “Compliance with treaties must be done in a way that is appropriate to our setting,” he said, adding that fail- ing to account for the peculiarity of the Philippine setting leads to certain gaps in policies, rendering them mostly unresponsive to the needs of the local maritime industry. Moreover, capability-building, in terms of training seafarers and enforc- ers, should also be done at the local level, according to Ba-tongbacal. Cur- rently, the Philippine Coast Guard is the sole government agency, which enforces safety standards. However, the coast guard is grossly understaffed because of measly budget allocations from the national government. Batongbacal suggested deputizing enforcers at the local level and tap- ping into the projected surplus of highly trained Filipino seafarers. Ac- cording to him, foreign sea vessels currently tend to set the mandatory retirement age for seafarers at age 40. In a few years those seafarers would be homeward-bound and may be tapped to assist in govern- ment efforts towards monitoring and enforcement to supplement the lack of trained personnel. Also, Batongbacal suggested render- ing maritime safety enforcement as a “public activity.” A mechanism may be put in place for passengers to report to authorities possible violations of standards committed by sea vessels. “Make enforcement or compliance, a public kind of activity,” he said. This would also entail educating the citizenry and involving them in the enforcement of safety standards. Indeed, the archipelagic nature of the Philippines poses various chal- lenges to the formulation of an ef- fective maritime safety policy. For Batongbacal, however, the key is not in emulating the practices and complying with the standards set by more advanced countries, but in making safety policies more flex- ible and responsive to the Philip- pine setting.


Biggest shipping companies not spared from ‘bad’ list ■ COMPANIES FROM A1


1987, when 4,375 passengers died. That is made history as the worst maritime disaster on record.


Aboitiz shipping The Aboitiz-led shipping firm has a


total fleet of 23 operating vessels as of last year.


Its fleet consists of seven fast crafts under the brand name SuperCat, 10 RoRo/Pax vessels including six under the SuperFerry brand, four vessels under Cebu Ferries and two freighters under the 2GO. The Aboitiz vessel fleet has a


combined gross registered tonnage of about 93,151 metric tons, total passenger capacity of about 15,200 and aggregate cargo capacity (including the chartered freighters) of about 6,014 twenty-foot equivalent units. SuperFerry vessels are gener-


ally larger than the rest of the fleet of ferries. As of last year, Aboitiz dominates the Philippine sea travel with 49-percent market share in the passage ferry service and 30-percent market share in the passenger fast craft service.


In the freight market, the Aboitiz


market share is estimated at 34 percent. Aboitiz operates in Bacolod,


Batangas, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Calapan, Cebu, Cotabato, Davao, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iligan, Iloilo, Manila, Nasipit, Ormoc, Ozamis, Puerto Princesa, Surigao, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga.


Sulpicio Lines Sulpicio Lines, for its part, operates in


Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Cagayan, Surigao, Davao, Tacloba, Iligan, Tagbilaran, Dumaguete,


Masbate, Ormoc, Puerto Princesa, Coron, Ormoc and Ozamis. Sulpicio Lines owns MV Princess of


the Universe, MV Princess of the Pacific, MV Princess of Paradise, MV Princess of New Unity, MV Filipina Princess, MV Tacloban Princess, MV Dipolog Princess, MV Princess of the Caribbean, MV Palawan Princess, MV Cebu Princess and MV Iloilo Princess. Earlier, the Philippine Shipping Line


Association reported that there was a “shortage” of passenger vessels, particularly for long-haul trips, plying local waters. DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


»LOTTO


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