Arroyo asks for victims’ info; review of coastal guidelines (11:01 a.m.)
MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered on Monday the National Disaster Coordinating Council to assign an official at the Sulpicio Lines office to gather information about the victims.
The President also ordered a review of Coast Guard guidelines to disallow vessels from sailing into a possible typhoon path, an ABS-CBN News Channel report said.
Arroyo has earlier rebuked Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard, for failing to send a distress signal to the Sulpicio Lines vessel.
In a videoconference at the NDCC, the President said it was not true that there were no prohibitions for vessels from sailing into the possible path of the typhoon.
“No vessel shall sail except to take shelter if public storm signal warning is hoisted in the point of origin, the route, and the point of destination, so it’s not true what you said that there are no absolute prohibitions. There are,” Arroyo told Edward Go, owner of Sulpicio Lines.
The Princess of the Stars had been allowed to set sail 8 p.m. Friday despite the threat posed by the typhoon because under the rules it was large enough to stay afloat in the typhoon’s periphery.
But the typhoon abruptly changed its northerly course on Saturday and raked west across the central islands, heading directly into the ferry’s path.
The Philippine Navy on Monday resumed its rescue mission to look for survivors of the sunken vessel.
Carlos Go, Sulpicio Lines executive vice-president, said the company was deeply saddened by the tragedy, the news report continued.
ANC said, Sulpicio Lines will properly compensate families of all passengers who perished in the tragedy.
A press conference is scheduled at Sulpicio Lines’ Cebu office at 3 p.m. Monday for more updates. (Sunnex)
It doesn’t matter whether or not the Princess of the Stars was large enough to stay afloat on a major storm / typhoon. Sulpicio Line owners need to be more diligent when doing maintenance of their vessels. One of the main reasons why the vessel capsized was because of engine failure.
To me that states as a major fault on the side of Sulpicio Lines and its owner Edward Go. It didn’t matter, that the vessel left before the public storm warning was raised at 11:30pm that night. Any sea going vessel that loses its engine will start to drift because it has no power.
And being such a large and heavy vessel it was only eminent that the vessel would get to close to shore and hit a reef or get toppled over by the strong waves created by the typhoon… With that information that the engines were not maintained properly. Whats to say the company and its owner, cut corners and had not completely supply the vessel with enough lift boats/rafts.
When it boils down to it … Edward Go and his company ( Sulpicio Lines ) need to pay for their miscalculated decision on the maintenance of their vessel and the erroneous decision of their Captain.