MANILA, Philippines—It has been nine days since the MV Princess of the Stars of Sulpicio Lines sank off Sibuyan Island with more than 800 passengers and crewmen on board. Only 57 survivors have been found, and the rest have been trapped inside the capsized floating coffin.

The sunken vessel is not only a navigational hazard in one of the busiest sea lanes in the Visayas, it is also holding a toxic cargo of pesticide that authorities fear might leak and cause environmental damage. This cargo has hampered the search for survivors, which was suspended after it was revealed that the ship carried the chemical.

The ship cannot be immediately refloated because Sulpicio Lines reportedly would not be able to claim full damages from insurers. According to maritime officials, the ship could easily be refloated but Sulpicio Lines and authorities who have oversight powers on maritime safety are “stalling.”

This official said: “If they refloat the vessel, Sulpicio will not be able to claim damages for a total wreck.”

Consequently, the recovery of human bodies has taken second priority to considerations of insurance costs. Sulpicio’s insurer, Oriental Assurance Corp., has affirmed it has insured passengers of MV Princess of the Stars. Industry sources put the amount of insurance for each passenger at P200,000—or about P160 million to cover an estimated 800 people.

The sources said Sulpicio had a P350-million marine hull insurance policy with Oriental Assurance that covered the costs of the ship.

These facts alone indicate that certain sectors of the shipping industry give little value to precious human lives, while operating on a franchise to transport people and cargos safely. Among inter-island shipping companies, Sulpicio Lines tops the record of involvement in maritime disasters during the past two decades.

Since 1987, its ships have figured in at least three other disasters, the most notorious of which was the Dec. 20, 1987, sinking of the MV Doña Paz after it collided with the oil tanker, MT Vector, on Tablas Strait off Mindoro and Marinduque, leaving 4,000 people dead.

Despite the huge loss of lives in all the three disasters, Sulpicio Lines had been cleared of criminal responsibility either by the courts or the Board of Marine Inquiry. Despite the public outrage, there is nothing to suggest that authorities would take a tougher line on Sulpicio Lines in the aftermath of the Princess of the Stars disaster.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself declared during a visit in the United States: “We are holding the ferry company accountable to ensure that we find how this ferry tragedy could have occurred so we can take steps to make sure it will never happen again.”

What makes the Princess of the Stars tragedy appalling is that it claimed about 800 lives, nearly half of the people who died in flash floods all over the country caused by Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen). It was the typhoon into whose path the Princess of the Stars sailed into recklessly in the Visayas.

Culture of impunity

The sinking of the ship was followed by a frenzy of blame-pointing, between ship owners and bureaucrats charged with the oversight of maritime travel safety in the country. That Sulpicio Lines got off lightly in past disasters and was cleared of any criminal responsibility proved a culture of impunity cloaking transport operators in the maritime industry.

This is a kind of immunity also enjoyed by security forces in the pursuit of the all-out war against the communist insurgency, which the government has vowed to crush by 2010. In this campaign, up to 800 leftist suspects have been killed by death squads in extra-judicial executions.

Typhoon Frank will not be the last disaster that will leave plenty of weeping and wailing families of victims and the same noisy remonstrances by authorities that such tragedies should “not happen again.”

This time, the government might be forced to shoulder the costs of refloating the sunken ship, if it wants to avert environmental damage due to the toxic pesticides in the hull of the vessel.

Review of franchise needed

According to Sen. Manuel Roxas II, this is so because the ship’s insurance coverage is limited to passengers and cargo and does not extend to ship damage. If the government needs to act fast to prevent further damage to the environment because of the toxic material inside the sunken vessel, it can’t wait for Sulpicio Lines to take action.

Roxas has pointed to an area where legislation is urgently needed to require shipping companies to provide insurance to cover collateral damage. This deficiency allows ship owners to transfer the costs to the public treasury for disasters they should be held responsible.

We have not yet heard many demands from Congress to cancel Sulpicio Lines’ franchise following the Princess of the Stars disaster and the shipping company’s history of dodging criminal responsibility of past disasters. Will Roxas initiate legislation reviewing Sulpicio’s franchise?

There is one business that Sulpicio Lines has proved to be worthy of a new franchise—as a mortuary. Look at the wreck of the Princess of the Stars.