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SULPICIO
Lines on Tuesday questioned the participation of
government lawyers in the hearings being held by the
Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) on the cancellation
of its franchise.
During
Tuesday’s hearing, Sulpicio lawyer Arthur Lim said
representatives of the Solicitor General should not be
there, or not allowed to participate, since later on
they will be the government prosecutors who will hear
the case against those agencies earlier sued by the
shipping firm.
The
Solicitor General is the government’s lawyer on
administrative and civil cases, while the Office of the
State Prosecutor is the one handling criminal
complaints.
Marina’s
Maritime Legal Affairs Office has asked the Office of
the Solicitor General (OSG), the main agency that
represents the government in court, to prosecute
Sulpicio on behalf of the agency.
The
hearing was temporarily halted for the panel to have a
closed-door meeting on the issue raised by Lim, after
which they have decided that OSG representative will
only “assist” Marina in the proceedings.
Sulpicio
expressed intention to file a manifestation against the
participation of the OSG on Wednesday afternoon, while
the Marina panel, headed by deputy administrator Primo
Rivera, is set to decide on the issue by Thursday.
Frisco
Nilo, director at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical
and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), was
supposed to be a witness in Tuesday’s hearing.
Nilo has
just been sworn as a witness when both the prosecution
panel and Sulpicio debated on whether the proceedings
should continue pending the resolution of the opposition
to the OSG’s participation.
Sulpicio
sued Pagasa late last month for allegedly issuing
“wrong” storm bulletins, which it said led to the MV
Princess of the Stars captain to go directly to the eye
of the storm rather than avoid it.
Rivera,
on the other hand, maintained that although they will
have the same witnesses, they are not copying what the
Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) is doing, and instead will
focus on the certificate of public convenience (CPC), or
the franchise of Sulpicio.
“BMI is
a fact-finding body tasked to know how and why the
vessel [Princess of the Stars] overturned. But for us
[Marina] we will determine if Sulpicio violated the
provisions of its CPC. There will be no duplication,”
Rivera told reporters.
“But we
will also consider the recommendation of the BMI,” he
added.
Both the
BMI, mostly composed of Coast Guard officials, and
Marina hearings will have to finish all their hearings
this month, as instructed by Malacañang, and file their
recommendations as soon as possible.
At the
Regional Trial Court in Manila, Sulpicio Tuesday
afternoon finished the presentation of its evidence in
its petition for temporary injunction to stop BMI from
investigating the MV Princess of the Stars sinking.
Sulpicio, owner of upturned MV Princess of the Stars,
presented Marina chief lawyer Manuel Fortus and Marina
former deputy administrator Vergel de Dios as its
“expert witnesses” on July 9, while Sulpicio senior vice
president Edward Go and Lim were presented as “ordinary
witnesses.”
The
embattled firm filed on July 7 a civil suit against the
BMI, alleging that Marina should be the one to
investigate its latest accident. It also claimed that
the BMI officers were biased.
Presiding Judge Eugenio Antonio of the Branch 24 of the
RTC in Manila said court hearings will resume on July
21. It will be the BMI’s turn to present its witnesses.
Assistant Solicitor General Bernard Fernandez said he
will present three to four witnesses.
Sulpicio
claimed that the BMI members “lack jurisdiction” over
the case and that the board has been “stripped of its
power to investigate maritime accidents.”
Lim
earlier said that under Republic Act 9295, the
investigation authority over ship owners and operators
was transferred to the Marina.
De Dios
told the court that the BMI has no legal authority to
investigate the incident and that if he were still the
Marina deputy administrator, he would tell the BMI to
stop investigating.
“The law
does not favor duplicate functions,” de Dios said.
“Marina has exclusive rights to investigate sea
disasters.”
Aside
from the BMI, the shipping company also filed charges
against Pagasa officials and Del Monte Philippines for
allegedly not disclosing that endosulfan, which the
ferry was carrying during the incident, is toxic and a
marine pollutant.
A local
environmentalist group on Tuesday urged the government,
the Sulpicio management and Del Monte Philippines to
stop blaming each other and start retrieving 10 metric
tons of the pesticide that went down with the MV
Princess of the Stars.
The
Kalikasan–People’s Network for the Environment
(Kalikasan-PNE) deplored the fact that almost a month
has passed but the government, Sulpicio lines and Del
Monte Philippines failed to remove the pesticide, thus
increasing the risk of contamination that could cause
more serious problems to various stakeholders,
particularly the people living in the coastal
communities in the province of Romblon.
“All
parties involved in this environmental and social
tragedy are quick to place the blame on each other, yet
none has stood up to the urgent task of cleaning up
after the tragedy,” Clemente Bautista Jr., national
coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE lamented. (With TJ Agcaoili
and Jonathan Mayuga) |
