Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Speak out: Correcting a mistake with another wrong By T. Tabar
I AM not connected in any with Sulpicio Lines nor had the opportunity to be acquainted with, in the past, any member of the Gothong family although I know some of them by face.
In this regard I would like to ask some government officials especially of the national level to refrain from making some irresponsible statements derogatory regarding the Gothong family or Sulpicio Lines especially that investigations are not yet over. If the said shipping firm is found guilty later then it should be make to face the legal consequences. This should not be a trial by publicity.
Politicians should not take advantage on the misfortunes of others just to further their political agenda.
Politicians should not be Abu Sakay.
Mistakes had been made both by the shipping firm and the government agencies tasked to police the industry. The investigations should be tempered with fairness and rationality not bent on revenge.
Penalizing the shipping firm for its mistakes is one thing, but hounding it to bankruptcy is the height of egregious irresponsibility. One could imagine the thousands of employees who will become jobless not to mention the ill-effects on private businesses, generated by Sulpicio Lines all over the country that will disappear into oblivion. With the precarious state of our economy, thousands more will suffer. How many children will not be able to pursue their studies or go to sleep with empty stomachs when the breadwinner becomes jobless? This could be a bigger disaster if the firm will go out of business completely. This will be a tragedy waiting to happen. One should not try to correct a mistake by creating another problem along the way.
Thorough inspections of the remaining ships of Sulpicio Lines should be made as soon as possible and tighter guidelines should be implemented. But those who are seaworthy and not guilty of maritime laws infraction should be allowed to ply their routes. Business, in general, should not be made to stagnate or to suffer as it will affect livelihoods of innocent people in the thousands. This is difficult to say but people still have to make a living.
I sympathize with those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. I know personally some people whose relatives lose their lives aboard the ill-fate mv Princess of the Stars.
What happened was a major tragedy, but hounding and driving the shipping firm into bankruptcy will result in a calamity in itself, probably worst than this because we will be dealing with jobless people and their respective families in the thousands not knowing where their next meal will come from. And the problem could linger for years on end. What could be a worst scenario than this? And where will our politicians be when this will occur?
