Wednesday, September 03, 2008 Shipping firm’s witnesses say bad weather caused tragedy
DURING trial of the class suit for the deaths caused by the 1998 sinking of the Princess of the Orient, Sulpicio Lines Inc. continued to deny the charge that its captain, officers and crew mishandled the flag-carrier.
The Cebu-based shipping company presented seven witnesses in its defense, among them the commander of the Coast Guard Station in Manila who inspected the vessel prior to its departure, and four ranking company officials, as well as its lawyer.
A “thorough inspection,” said Coast Guard Capt. Anito Alfajardo in court, showed that the vessel was “seaworthy, with complete and operating navigational instruments, equipment safety appliances, operating certificates, and was manned by complete and fully licensed officers and crew.”
Sulpicio Lines also presented the Orient’s 3rd engineer, Perry Chan, to testify that “the vessel’s main engines as well as the auxiliary engine and other equipment inside the engine room were “all in good operating condition before and during the subject voyage.”
Radioman Edgar Samson said during his testimony that the defendant “at all times exercised extraordinary diligence during the voyage and continued to do so up to the time of the sinking.” A Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SMBI) report, however, said Samson sent the SOS (save our ship) signal over the wrong network.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Generosa Labra, in a 39-page decision released Monday, found Sulpicio Lines liable for the incident and ordered it to pay a total of P22,859,995.08 to four families, all of whom had loved ones who died in the sinking.
“Having found that the immediate cause of the sinking of mv Princess of the Orient, which resulted in the death of plaintiffs’ loved ones, was due to the negligence of its employees crew members, defendant Sulpicio Lines Inc. is therefore liable to plaintiffs for damages,” the ruling said.
During the hearing, the shipping company’s own lawyer, Arthur Lim, took to the witness stand.
He argued that the SMBI was clear in its findings and recommendations, dated Jan. 27, 1999, that the vessel was “found to be seaworthy” and that his clients “prudently discharged its duties and obligations to insure that the vessel met the safety standards required by law.”
He said the SMBI finding was the “only official investigation into the sinking” and that its findings were “final,” having been never reversed or modified.
Lawyer Geraldine Jorda, on the other hand, testified that Capt. Ersum Mahilum, the skipper of the ill-fated vessel, was himself “an exemplary mariner” who had an “exemplary record of service.”
The testimony ran counter with the findings of a Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) panel that said the vessel sacrificed stability for cargo and that “she sails out of the North Harbor each time in a tender and unseaworthy condition.”
The panel also said the cargo stowed in the vessel’s deck “were never lashed down” and this “aggravated her unseaworthy condition.”
Moreover, ship captain Mahilum had been involved in “several maritime incidents concerning the Orient,” including having touched the bottom of the entrance of the North Harbor, having sideswiped a container vessel, and the ship having caught on fire while being berthed.
Two other company officials also took the witness stand to say that the company extended humanitarian assistance to the survivors, their families as well as the families of those who were never found. (KNR)
