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Sunday, January 19, 2003
23 survive parade accident
By Garry Cabotaje
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A MOTORBOAT that tipped over and the mix-up of the regular route marred an otherwise smooth fluvial parade yesterday, which drew thousands of Sto. Niño devotees in the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Cebu.
Luckily, alert Coast Guard (CG) and Navy marshals rescued all 23 passengers of Maniz, a motorboat owned by Manuel Reyes, 40, of Talisay City. Reyes was among the unhurt passengers.
At least two persons, including Jay Reyes, were reported injured in the 6 a.m. mishap, after their toes and knees were hit by the boat’s rotor blade.
For the first time, the fluvial parade bypassed the Muelle Osmeña wharf in Lapu-Lapu City and Pasil fish port in Cebu City, where residents jostled each other as early as 5 a.m. to get a good view of the glass-encased image of the Sto. Niño.
The annual event, a reenactment of the arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Cebu in 1521, began 15 minutes after its 7 a.m. scheduled starting time.
CG officials attributed this to the delayed arrival of the procession from the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City, where the images of the Sto. Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe stayed overnight, to the Ouano pier.
Clad in a red sweater, presidential daughter Evangelina Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo also joined the fluvial procession on board a speedboat, which closely tailed mv Senyor Sto. Niño, the Ouano family’s “galleon” carrying the Sto. Niño.
Also, reporters and photographers, who covered the event, figured in a heated tussle with a certain Orville Dingcong, a port policeman, who prevented their tugboat from docking at Pier 1 in Cebu City.
Sun.Star chief photographer Alex Badayos, GMA 7 cameraman Joel Pantino and some Manila-based photojournalists had to stay on the Cebu Harbor tugboat for another 30 minutes before the port policeman allowed the vessel to dock.
But Cebu CG Chief Feliciano Dy said the CG could not be blamed entirely for the last-minute diversion of the route, as they only avoided collisions among the participating seacraft.
Dy said they could no longer move forward from Ouano pier to Muelle Osmeña in Lapu-Lapu City, as several watercraft already blocked the Mactan Channel.
Unregistered
Dy lamented that most of the vessels did not register at CG headquarters and their owners even failed to attend their final briefing on the flotilla’s formation last Jan. 16.
“Actually, they (boat owners) were absent in our final briefing. Had we pushed through with the original route, the motorboats might have clashed,” Dy said.
From the registered participating 70 boats, the number rose to 112 because of the unregistered seacraft, said Capt. Bobby “Knight” Inoferio of CG Auxiliary 201st Squadron.
“We cannot compromise the safety of the participants. It is our prime concern,” he added.
Aside from the fact that Mactan Channel was crowded, lawyer Pepito Suello of the CG special board of marine inquiry noted limited maneuverability in the narrow channel, further restricting the movement of the lead boats.
The original route was for the flotilla to pass Muelle Osmeña, where participating watercraft had assembled at 6 a.m., then turn left at the old Mactan-Mandaue bridge and then pass Ouano wharf before proceeding to Cebu City.
But a different route was taken yesterday.
The devotees observed that the CG lead gunboats—PG 318 and 330—went straight to the Mactan-Mandaue bridge and turned right off the General Milling compound in Lapu-Lapu City.
The devotees, who were at the Muelle Osmeña wharf, were bypassed as mv Trinidad crossed again the channel towards Mandaue City side before proceeding to the Cebu City pier.
The same thing happened to the devotees in Pasil, Cebu City. On orders of the CG, the mv Trinidad turned left before reaching Pasil, sailing only off Ermita.
The CG earlier ordered that all participating vessels must stop tailing the “galleon” upon reaching Pier 1.
Sirens, yells
Dy quickly justified the short trip, saying some undisciplined vessels still pursued the mv Trinidad and even went ahead of the lead pack.
The “bypassed” devotees were left with unused firecrackers and some angry words for the Coast Guard.
Those who lined the piers of Mandaue and Cebu got a glimpse of the passing image of the Child Jesus. The ships’ bullhorns, sirens, firecrackers and yells from the Sto. Niño devotees continued until the fleet arrived at Pier 1 in Cebu City.
Dozens of red and white balloons, with papers bearing prayers, were released into the air.
As to the tipping over of mb Maniz, there were three versions of the accident.
Capt. Tereso Saso Jr., a staff member of CG central eastern district auxiliary, said the 23 passengers were too excited that they all stayed in the boat’s left side, causing it to tilt and keel over off Muelle Osmeña.
James Morales, a survivor, told radio dyLA that a wave created by a bigger vessel forced the passengers to move to one side, until the boat listed to the left and overturned.
Carelessness
For his part, Dy got a report that the passengers had taken some drinks and that their carelessness caused one of the boat’s outriggers to break, resulting in the mishap.
CG auxiliary official Ralph Yap said the boat was overloaded. Reports said, though, that it could accommodate 40 passengers.
The CG found out that the mb Maniz was an unregistered boat and merely “inserted” in the fluvial formation specified for bigger vessels.
Eight of those rescued were brought to mb Maricris, a medical boat, where they were treated by staff of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation.
Despite the incident, Dy assessed this year’s fluvial parade a success. With JFT & JECT of Superbalita
(January 19, 2003 issue)
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