Thursday, July 03, 2008 Editorials: Suing the weather bureau
THE P4.45 million civil suit filed by Sulpicio Lines Inc. against Pag-asa for “gross incompetence and irresponsibility” was laughed off by officials of the weather bureau and probably critics of the shipping line.
The filing of the case was actually a culmination of efforts by Sulpicio Lines to publicize its own interpretation of what led to the sinking of mv Princess of the Stars.
And because the sinking is a major tragedy and the accident is a confluence of many factors, everybody can pick an aspect or slices of the incident and use it to come up with a seemingly logical interpretation of what happened.
In the blame-throwing effort, one can zero in on typhoon Frank (and by extension God), the Coast Guard, Pag-asa, the ship's captain, etc. as targets for condemnation.
Disaster
One should not take it against Sulpicio Lines, however, for suing Pag-asa and blaming government entities for the accident, although the timing may not have been perfect.
Aside from the sinking being tragic in terms of lives and properties lost, its aftermath is, for the shipping firm, a financial as well as public relations disaster.
The criticism against Sulpicio Lines by relatives of the victims, government officials and other concerned personalities has
not abated and allegations against it that may not have basis are being bandied around.
This is obviously the reason why, in an interview, one of the shipping firm's owners turned emotional while parrying the accusations---carrying the burden of the blame must have become too heavy for them.
Reaction
But it would be good to remind Sulpicio Lines that all of what it is facing now is a natural result of the disaster, whose magnitude can't simply be minimized.
And being combative in the midst of the swirl of accusations and condemnations may not help in pushing the decibel of the noise down and instead increase it.
At this stage when the search for the missing and identification of the dead are fueling the emotionalism that we are seeing now, it's best for Sulpicio Lines to calibrate well its reaction.
