MALACAÑANG is expecting a full report from Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) officials explaining the latest sea tragedy that killed 38 passengers of an interisland ferry in Ormoc.
Interviewed over radio station dwIZ, Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. on Friday agreed that Marina officials may have a lot of explaining to do, citing initial findings they failed to enforce standard safeguards to ensure the passengers’ safety.
“Dapat na isinagawa talaga diyan ay tiniyak iyung kaligtasan ng mga pasahero,” Coloma said.
The Palace official cited reports that some passengers took it upon themselves to try to tilt the boat to prevent sinking. “Ayon doon sa ulat na natunghayan natin, ang sinabi nung isang survivor ay napansin niyang tila hindi balansiyado kaya mismong siya ay nagtangkang lumipat doon sa isang bahagi, pero parang napakabilis ng mga pangyayari.”
Coloma also asserted the need for a thorough inquiry to establish responsibility for the tragedy.
“Kaya’t kailangang talaga iyung masusing imbestigasyon at dapat papanagutin iyung mga responsible, dahil napakahalaga iyung pagtitiyak nang kaligtasan ng ating mga mamamayan,” Coloma told dwIZ.
The secretary pointed out that, in the first place, the ferry should not have been allowed by authorities to sail if there was imminent bad weather in the area.
“Hindi talaga dapat pinahihintulutan kung mayroong nakaambang panganib sa ating mga mamamayan,” he added.
At a Palace briefing on Friday, Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte confirmed that President Aquino had issued instructions to continue round-the-clock search- and-rescue operations to locate possible survivors in the sea tragedy.
Valte said President Aquino gave the order as he was being updated on the situation in Ormoc.
“Do whatever we can to send support to be able to augment the search and rescue,” Valte quoted Mr. Aquino as saying, when the President was informed that latest report showed more than 30 fatalities and an unspecified number of passengers still unaccounted for.
“Yes, meron na hong initial report sa Pangulo,” Valte told Palace reporters at a briefing. “Ang unang concern ng Pangulo ay ipagpatuloy ang search and rescue. At that time that we were in that meeting, parang ang nare-report po ay 32 so far ang casualties at may missing.”
Other reports said 42 bodies have so far been recovered from the sunken ferry.
Valte reported that Mr. Aquino “immediately latched on to the fact that there were still a number of people missing” and ordered authorities to step up the rescue operations.
According to Valte, the President also gave orders to conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain what really happened that caused the tragedy.
She added: “The second concern of the President was even, while the search and rescue was ongoing, that we should already send in investigators to get eyewitness accounts and get all the documents relative to the vessel” in order to make sure what clearance requirements were issued by the Marina and double-check passenger manifest, among others.
“So, nag-utos po ng isang masinsinang pagtingin ang Pangulo doon sa insidente. Gusto po ng Pangulo na, una, maging mabilis ang imbestigasyon so nag-constitute po agad ang Coast Guard nang maritime casualty investigation team. Nandoon na po sila,” Valte said.
She said the Philippine Coast Guard is now working with Marina to get to the bottom of the situation as “the President wants to make sure that the results of the investigation will be speedy and the results will be objective.”
Several more bodies have been recovered from the ferry that capsized in choppy waters in the central Philippines, raising the death toll in the accident to 42 with 11 others missing, the Coast Guard said on Friday.
At least 134 people from the MB Kim Nirvana were rescued by fishing boats and Coast Guard personnel or swam to safety off Ormoc City, said Cmdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman.
Balilo said two passengers initially listed on the manifest did not board the ferry, lowering the total number of people onboard to 187 from 189 earlier reported.
Capt. Pedro Tinampay, Coast Guard Eastern Visayas chief, said that rescuers were using a barge with a crane to move the overturned boat to its side to make it easier for divers to find more bodies. Another crane will be used to raise it upright, he said.
A Coast Guard ship and a navy patrol boat anchored in the choppy waters in the vicinity of the overturned ferry and three rescue boats took divers to the site early Friday.
Balilo said the wooden outrigger ferry was maneuvering out of the Ormoc port heading on its routine voyage to Pilar, one of the towns on Camotes Islands, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) to the south, when it was lashed by strong waves.
He said the captain and some of the crew were rescued and are in custody pending an investigation.
Coast Guard officials and survivors said it was not immediately clear what caused the 36-ton ferry, which was carrying a heavy cargo of construction materials and bags of rice, to overturn.
Tinampay said the movement of the cargo inside the ferry “may have been contributory to the shift in the weight of the cargo, that’s why the boat listed.”
Survivors told the Associated Press by cell phone that the bow suddenly rose from the water before the vessel flipped over on one side, turning it upside down and trapping passengers underneath.
Among the passengers who survived were at least three Americans and a Canadian.
Lawrence Drake, 48, a retired firefighter from Rochester, New York, said he was able to revive a woman who was not breathing while they were in the water via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Drake said he also saved the woman’s pregnant daughter and an 8-year-old boy. He said he saw at least seven bodies floating in the water, including two children.
Many of the passengers were screaming in panic, he said.
Drake’s Filipino wife, Mary Jane, said the ferry was pulling slowly out of the port when it suddenly flipped to the left in strong waves.
“No one was able to jump out because it overturned very swiftly. There was no time to jump,” she said.
(With AP)