I GREW up in a town where there were no motor vehicles save for a few motorcycles. Travel was therefore by banca or, in the case of mountain dwellers like us, on foot.
Most boatmen were older people and worked with an air of self-confidence that must have been born out of years of experience of sailing in familiar seas. They mocked the waves while we, ordinary mortals, cowered in fear for our safety (until now I still do not know how to swim). Life jackets were unheard of and on at least a couple of occasions where the boat capsized, I survived by holding on to an outrigger.
There is a certain arrogance in the self-confidence of old salts. Ask a sailor if it is still safe to travel, everything considered, and more often than not, he will tell you that everything is fine, there is nothing to worry about even as the vessel is behaving like a horse and winds accompanied by pelting rains are driving her tarpaulin (trapal) covers crazy.
More often than not, they’re right. Unfortunately, there are times when they are not.
The tragedy that claimed the lives of 31 people, including seven Ermita residents, in the narrow strip of sea between Guimaras and Iloilo City last Saturday was one of them. Obviously, the operators of the three motorboats that capsized, read the weather conditions wrongly.
I do not buy the cock-and-bull story about the weather suddenly turning hostile while the boats were at sea. First of all, Guimaras to Iloilo is only 15 to 30 minutes away by boat and it taxes the imagination how huge waves and strong winds could appear so suddenly midway through the trip. The weather may be unpredictable. But that unpredictable?
Secondly, while the first two boats capsized on or about the same time, the third one did so some three hours later. Why was it allowed to sail under the same weather conditions? Or are they saying that the sea calmed after the two boats sank only to turn very rough again later? Isn’t that stretching the imagination too far?
Sea transportation continues to be an integral part in the carriage of goods and people. It is unfortunate that while bigger vessels run by shipping companies are generally compliant with government regulations on seaworthiness, the small bancas appear be moving in a different orbit. I even wonder how many of them are duly documented and registered.
The Guimaras tragedy will surely be investigated. Already, people are asking if there had been “security lapses.” The answer seems easy enough. There will be finger-pointing too, that’s for sure.
But what we really want to see is for the government to do a better job of policing the operations of the small motor boats particularly those that cater to the public. If there is any lesson to be learned from last Saturday’s capsizing, it is that we cannot continue to entrust our lives in the self-confidence of experienced boatmen alone. The consequences are too costly.