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Friday, September 12, 2003
Boat sinks: woman drowns, 3 missing
By Rene H. Martel
With Lorenzo P. Niñal
CEBU -- A woman died and three others, including a Filipino-Chinese businessman, are feared dead after a sudden gale battered their boat off Barangay Maya, Daanbantayan, Cebu early last Wednesday night.
The accident came less than five months after a similar mishap in the same area claimed the lives of four children and a teenager last April 24.
As strong winds caused big waves, it suddenly began to rain around 6:30 p.m. while the victims’ packed boat was halfway from Maya to Sitio Guimbitayan, Logon, Malapascua Island.
Of the seven aboard the seven-meter-long mb Escapade, three were plucked from the sea near Badji islet by the crew and passengers of a passenger boat that passed by an hour after the mishap.
Authorities said that aside from the seven persons, the boat was also loaded with 10 sacks of cement intended for the construction of a resort in Guimbitayan.
Confirmed dead was Chona Guboi, 32, of Sunny Hills, Talamban, Cebu City. Her body was found in Punta, Barangay Maya, around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
As of Thursday afternoon, her husband Rolando, 45, driver Romeo Pacquiao, 20, and employee Edgar Sagrana, 25, remained missing.
Both Pacquiao and Sagrana were from Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.
Disaster
Those who were rescued were identified as Chona’s younger brother Ronald Ocañada, who was the boat’s helmsman; Lilibeth Biyaya, 16; and Elmer Arrabis, 15, of Maya.
Both Chona and Rolando reportedly did not know how to swim.
The tragedy was a case of an overloaded boat aggravated by foul weather, a perfect mix for disaster, Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot said.
The boat, good only for five passengers, carried seven persons plus 10 sacks of cement, weighing the equivalent of eight to nine persons.
Maya Barangay Captain Enrique Abucay Jr. told Sun.Star that those at the pier warned the Gubois, who owned the boat, that they better transfer their cargo to the bigger mb Baby Fatima.
It was mb Baby Fatima that passed by and rescued Ocañada, Biyaya and Arrabis.
“They were told to transfer some of their cargo, which was too heavy for their small boat. The wife wanted to, but the husband decided against it,” Barangay Captain Abucay said, quoting his constituents.
The Guboi couple had bought a resort site in Guimbitayan less than a year ago and had since then ferried construction materials to the place to develop a resort they named Dos Bamboos.
Rolando reportedly owns a gasoline station in Talisay City and supplies dressed chicken to SM City mall.
Engine out
SPO3 Edgar Pepito, who investigated what happened, learned from survivor Ocañada that it suddenly rained hard and the waves became big, swamping the boat and causing it to capsize.
In fair weather, it takes passenger boats with engines of 80 to 130 horsepower just 25 to 30 minutes to make the four-kilometer crossing.
The Escapade, with a 10-horsepower engine, was moving so slowly, what with its load, that it was still halfway through its trip half an hour after leaving.
When the rain came and the waves rose, the boat’s engine conked out, Biyaya said in a television interview.
The victims allegedly managed to leave the pier because there were no Coast Guard personnel who stood watch.
Chief Petty Officer Joaquin Silvano, commander of the Hagnaya, San Remigio town Coast Guard detachment, which has jurisdiction over the area, said in a television interview that their monitoring usually ends around 5:30 p.m.
Raul Dublin, Maya chief tanod, said that found along with Chona was Pacquiao’s bag, which contained the key to his employer’s Nissan Frontier vehicle, and a mobile phone.
P60T missing
Chona allegedly had in her shoulder bag, which was yet to be found, around P60,000 that was meant for the resort workers’ wages.
SPO3 Pepito said they received reports that a man’s body was also found in Malapascua but they had yet to confirm the information.
He said he himself had witnessed the Guboi couple transporting construction materials using the same boat, which is unregistered, and all their trips were uneventful—until last Wednesday.
A bigger boat worth P200,000 is also under construction on the couple’s request.
Search and rescue operations continued Thursday after rescuers had difficulty responding to the alarm Wednesday night and Thursday dawn because of poor visibility and heavy rain.
Fishermen, the Coast Guard and volunteer divers from the different Malapascua resorts helped in the search.
Safety rules
For her part, Daanbantayan’s Mayor Loot lamented the difficulty of seeing to the registration of all boats that operate in her area.
She called on the Coast Guard to come up with measures that will oblige all boats to carry life vests, whether they be fishing vessels or commercial ones.
For the municipality’s part, a stricter implementation of ordinances on sea travel in the town can be expected, Loot said.
Loot pointed out that some private boat owners don’t bother to register their vessels with the municipality.
And while most fishermen register their boats as fishing vessels, they also use these to carry passengers, Loot said.
Loot admitted a loose implementation of sea travel ordinances in the town, and that this is because of the development plans being undertaken by a technical working committee for Malapascua.
Loot promised stricter implementation this time. Sun.Star Cebu
(September 12, 2003 issue) |
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