After nearly a year, the Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) issued a ruling on the Aug. 16 collision of two ships near Lawis Ledge off the coast of Talisay City, Cebu.
The result of the inquiry was furnished to the 2GO Group Inc. and Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. (formerly Sulpicio Lines) but may be unavailable to the media for now.
“The SBMI decision last July 2014 is not final yet. In fact, the two shipping companies are contesting the findings,” said Lt. Ronald Pancipane of the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) legal service and administrative officer of the Board of Marine Inquiry.
He said Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp., which owns cargo vessel Sulpicio Express Siete, filed an appeal with the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC).
Contest
Pancipane said 2GO Group Inc. asked the SBMI to reconsider some parts of its ruling, claiming that passenger ship St. Thomas Aquinas did everything to avoid the collision that claimed the lives of over 116 passengers and left 21 persons missing.
“The two shipping companies were actually given 30 days to contest the SBMI ruling. That’s their right,” he said.
Asked why it took the SBMI almost a year to finish the investigaton, Pancipane said issues to be resolved were complicated.
He said the SBMI inquiry was not intended to assign blame on a shipping company.
“The purpose of the SBMI probe was to determine the cause of the accident. There’s no assessment of any liability although the ruling can be used as basis in filing a case in court,” Pancipane said.
Masses
He refused to give details of the SBMI findings for the moment.
Manila-based lawyer Dennis Cabanos of 2GO Group Inc. told CDN he has yet to ask permission from the shipping companies’ executives if he could furnish copies of the ruling to the media.
During the SBMI hearing held at the Philippine Coast Guard office in Cebu City, the captains of both MV St. Thomas Aquinas and Sulpicio Express Siete described how their vessels tried to avoid each other in the narrow choke point of the Lawis Ledge.
Capt. Reynan Bermejo of MV St. Thomas Aquinas and Capt. Rolito Gilo of Sulpicio Express Siete both said they sent several radio messages when the distance was about two nautical miles apart but never made contact on radio.
2GO Group Inc. will offer a series of Masses today in memory of those who perished in the sea tragedy last year.
The venue and schedule of Masses are as follows: Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral (8 a.m.), Basilica del Sto. Nino (5:30 p.m.), Redemptorist Church (5:30 p.m.), Archdiocesan Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (6 p.m.), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish (6 p.m.), Sto. Rosario Parish (6 p.m.), St. Joseph Parish, Mabolo ((6 p.m.), San Narciso Parish Consolacion (6 p.m.), and the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City (7 p.m.).