Saturday, March 15, 2008 Pay damages or face raps, DPWH warns vessel owner
THE owner of oil tanker MT Damar that hit the Marcelo B. Fernan last Monday night may face criminal, civil and administrative charges if he refuses to shoulder the cost to repair the damages.
Department of Public Works and Highways 7 Legal Officer Agustinito Hermoso said the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board will meet again on Tuesday to further discuss how much the owner will pay.
Hermoso said he received initial reports that the owner is not really worried about the damage because the vessel is insured and the insurance company will pay for it.
According to Hermoso, a team from the DPWH engineering district was sent to inspect the eight-year-old bridge after one of its concrete columns was hit by the vessel.
Although the team already submitted a report, it is only limited to areas above water level.
Hermoso said an underwater exploration is needed to determine any damage of the bridge below the water line. The inspection team must be composed of members from the navy, coast guard and Kajima Corp., the Japanese consultancy firm which supervised bridge construction.
“This is the reason why we have no conclusion yet,” Hermoso said, adding that they have to assess the real damage before demanding the vessel owner to pay for it.
Meanwhile, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has suspended the license of Alex Gelacio Ipanag, the master of the vessel of MT Damar.
Ipanag, who filed a marine protest with Marina 7 last March 12, did not mention the name of the shipping line that owns the vessel.
Earlier, the certificate of safety of MT Damar was also suspended by Marina 7 pending investigation of the incident.
Marina 7 specialist Mardon Martin said they will issue a show-cause order against Sea-Tech Transport Inc., which owns the vessel, for it to explain why no penalties shall be imposed upon it for hitting the bridge.
The show-cause order was addressed to Sea-Tech director Rolly Militante in Manila.
Ipanag, in his marine protest, said the incident took place at 10:40 p.m. last March 10 because of strong current. EOB
