Sulpicio 'humbly' accepts junking of TRO petition
But considering motion for reconsideration
By Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:14:00 07/11/2008
Filed Under: Sulpicio ferry disaster
MANILA, Philippines -- Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) said it was “humbly” accepting a Manila court’s rejection of its petition for a temporary restraining order against the investigation by the Board of Marine Inquiry into the June 21 sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars.
“We humbly accept the court order,” SLI legal counsel Arthur Lim said during the resumption of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) proceedings Friday.
Nevertheless, another SLI lawyer, Ma. Victoria Lim-Florido, said they are also considering filing a motion for reconsideration on the decision Thursday of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Judge Antonio M. Eugenio Jr., dismissing the shipping firm’s petition for lack of merit.
Eugenio also cited a memorandum of agreement between Marina and the Philippine Coast Guard giving the latter the power to investigate the causes of maritime accidents.
SLI had questioned the legality of the BMI probe, contending that Marina was the proper agency to undertake the investigation.
Lim appealed to Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza to consolidate the separate investigations into the ferry tragedy being conducted by the BMI and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina). “The two agencies should coordinate and synchronize their respective findings,” Lim said, because they are under the same agency, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC).
This recommendation was also in the decision of Eugenio.
Florido agreed, saying the BMI and Marina should “get their acts together so that no conflicting decision will come out.”
She added that if the DoTC finds it “necessary that one [investigating body] should stop to give way to the other, then so much the better.”
“We should achieve some sort of uniformity,” Florido added.
Lim pointed to the investigations into the sinking of another Sulpicio vessel, the MV Princess of the Orient, which capsized and sank in 1998, during the onslaught of typhoon “Vicki,” when he said Marina and BMI came out with conflicting results.
He did not, however, elaborate.
The Princess of the Stars, with more than 800 passengers and crew onboard, capsized and sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon on June 21 when it sailed into the path of typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen).
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