This was admission of the officers of the MV Double Prosperity, the foreign bulk carrier that has been stuck at Bacud Reef in Kiamba since May 8 when asked to clarify on the admission of the ship captain that the accident was due to a “human error”.
The June 6 to 7 Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) traced the real cause on why the Panama-registered cargo ship, with more than 65,000 tons of coal, strayed off its normal course, admitting board that the ship captain allowed the 39,000 gross revenue ton ship to get nearer the shore to be able to catch cellular phone signal.
The Sarangani Information Office, quoting Sarangani’s provincial legal officer, lawyer Arnel Zapatos, said during the BMI inquiry, “the crew of MV Double Prosperity admitted that the captain permitted the ship to go near the shore despite knowledge that Bacud Reef exists in their navigational map, in order to get cell phone signals.”
“The Third Mate admitted that he was the one [responsible in] maneuvering the ship when it went [ran] aground and he miscalculated her turn, causing [MV Double Prosperity] to hit the reef,” Zapatos said.
The ship officers said the ship was running at 13 knots when it hit the reef halting the vessel to a complete stop but ruining the coral reefs underneath. “He [Third Mate] was aware that they were allowed to go nearer the shore at five miles,” Zapatos said. “The watchman admitted that he saw fishermen, and fishes indicating that they were near the shore and near the reef because there were fish sightings.”
Zapatos submitted the “Complaint in Intervention” of Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez, who was also the vice chairman of the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape-Protected Area Management Board (SBPS-Pamb).
The Board of Marine Inquiry is the investigating body of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
“SBMI should impose sanctions to the vessel and to continue to hold custody of the vessel withholding certifications of her seaworthiness pending the nonsettlement of SBPS-Pamb’s claim for the damaged reef,” said the governor, complainant-intervenor in the petition.
Zapatos has asked the Philippine Coast Guard to hold the ship until an acceptable settlement was paid or reached.
With the admission, the Pamb of Sarangani submitted its complaint in intervention “on the grounds of negligence, damage to the reef in a protected area, and anchored on the PCG’s duty to hold the ship until an acceptable settlement is paid or reached,” the information office said in a statement released on Friday.
“It is our submission,” Zapatos said “that PCG should hold the ship for as long as it does not settle or pay their obligations because the ship caused damage to our environment; the PCG’s authority to hold it is ministerial duty because the ship is the instrument of the violation of law.”
Zapatos said the ship owner did not respond to the province’s June 6 demand for a security bond “to ensure that there is that corresponding amount ready to pay us or settle our claims.”
The demand was made as Zapatos deplored the salvor’s “slow operations.”
The salvaging operation was being undertaken by Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. on the ship which was en route to India from Australia when it ran on May 8 into the Bacud Reef, a protected seascape 50 nautical miles off General Santos City in Southern Mindanao.
Several attempts at refloating the ship away from the reef had failed and Zapatos said the next attempt would be on June 15. “The deadline for the issuance of the security bond will also be on June 15,” he said.
At Bacud Reef, MV Double Prosperity continues to unload her cargo of coal to a barge, according to Carmelo Velasco, municipal planning officer. “Many old fisherfolk are trying to extend help to cast away bad spirits thru prayers and material offerings,” Velasco said. “That’s according to their beliefs. You can’t pull the vessel unless you [have an] offering.”
(Manuel Cayon)
