Thursday, July 03, 2008 Aguilar: Act of God By George Aguilar Rational animal
SULPICIO Lines officials do not really seem to put too much credit on their statement that the sea accident involving the MV Princess of the Stars was an act of God. This is a pity, on their part; for it would have made a good defense to claim that the event was fortuitous.
Sulpicio Lines filed a 4.45 million-peso civil suit against the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa) with the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) for its alleged erroneous weather forecast of typhoon Frank that sank the M/V Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island on June 21, 2008.
Earlier, they said the accident was an act of God, which prompted Manila Archbishop Cardinal Rosales to retort by telling them not to blame God for their incompetence. So why would Sulpicio Lines blame Pag-asa if the event was beyond the control of man in the first place?
Some theologians and mystics believe that nothing would be possible at all if it were not permitted or willed by God. Reality, for these people, is simply an expression of God's will. If this were the case indeed, then everything happens as an act of God. Everything would have been pre-destined whether it has already happened or is yet to happen in the future. For in a pre-destined history, the future has been determined already or pre-ordained. This would in fact absolve Sulpicio from responsibility for the recent sea tragedy. They can claim that the sinking of the Princess of the Stars has been decided already by forces beyond their control.
The belief in destiny and in a pre-determined future takes away the idea of freedom and responsibility from man. Freedom, defined as the ability to choose from more than one option, would be a farce and in fact impossible because there are no options in a world that is already destined to undergo a linear future.
Without freedom, there is no responsibility too. The non-availability of freedom and responsibility would make all of us saintly for there would be no sin.
And yet Cardinal Rosales told Sulpicio Lines not to use God as an excuse. This is because the Catholic Church believes that history is created by man and not just by God. In the encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II said that God created the world but has left the task of finishing the work to mankind. By that, he meant that the task of building a world of peace and justice lies with us. That we actually create our own future. We forge our own destiny. We create our fate and are responsible for the things and decisions that we make.
Blaming God or the devil for our own weaknesses is a cop out, a poor excuse, an attempt to get away with our weaknesses and failures.
Because we are free to decide on our fate, we too are responsible for the same. At the time of the departure the captain of the ill-fated ship relied on Pag-asa's report issued 4:45PM which announced storm signal No. 1 in the vicinity of the port of Manila. While some people actually think this way, we can suppose that the captain, who is supposed to be a professional, did not say “bahala na” (I leave our fate to God). Pag-asa, according to Sulpicio Line officials, also said that typhoon Frank was headed towards a north-westerly direction.
Unfortunately, the typhoon did not move northwest but westward. While it may be said that the sudden change in the storm's direction may be an act of God or a force major, the decision to sail was for the captain to make and not Pag-asa's.
Besides, what Pag-asa made was a forecast and not a prediction. It did not say that that the storm would go north; it merely said that the storm may go north.
There is a difference between the two. Unfortunately, storms pay little heed to weather forecasts. Besides, if the storm's "decision" to go westward rather than northwards was an act of God, then Pag-asa cannot be blamed for its pronouncements, too.
In ethics, we are taught that morality applies to human acts. Human acts are defined by scholars like Pinon and Glen as actions that are deliberate, free and voluntary. We therefore have to determine whether the act of the Princess of the Stars’ sailing out to Cebu was done in accordance to the above conditions. If it was, then someone and not God, has to carry the responsibility for the act.
