MANILA, Philippines ? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered on Sunday a full audit of all commercial vessels in the country in light of the two separate sea tragedies that left less than 80 people still missing.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the inquiry would ultimately zero in on ?the competence of the people who are in charge of regulating the shipping industry.?

Bello said Ms Arroyo wanted agencies like the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to ?determine the sea-worthiness of all their vessels.?

?The President will direct the secretary of transportation and communication to require all agencies like Marina and Coast Guard to conduct a safety audit of all shipping lines,? he said.

The Marina and the PCG would apparently be also scrutinized and would be subjected to ?audit on the competence of (their) people,? according to the Cabinet official.

?In these recent accidents, there were no storms, no overloading, so how come there were still accidents?? he said in Filipino.

Bello said Ms Arroyo was concerned with the possibility of ?overlapping jurisdiction and responsibility? of government agencies over the maritime industry.

He said such an arrangement often led to ?finger-pointing? during sea tragedies.

?The responsibility of Marina, the responsibility of the Coast Guard should really be determined so we avoid finger-pointing by government officials,? he said.

At least six people were killed when a passenger vessel sank off the coast of Isla Verde in Batangas Saturday night. Thirty two were missing as of Sunday afternoon.

The fatalities were among at least 70 passengers and 18 crew members of MV Baleno 9, which was sailing from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.

The accident came just two days after another passenger vessel rammed into the 369-ton FV Anatalia off Libones Island in Cavite on Christmas Eve. The ill-fated Catalyn, a 79-ton wooden vessel, had 73 people on board, 46 of whom remained missing.