MANILA, Philippines?Two of the passenger vessels of Sulpicio Lines Inc. are now allowed to sail again, almost two months after the company?s business of ferrying people was suspended following the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars.

No date has been set when the two vessels will set sail, Sulpicio Lines lawyer Ma. Victoria Lim-Florido said Wednesday.

Florido said the company received from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) on Tuesday an order that lifted the order grounding the MV Princess of the Earth and the MV Cotabato Princess.

She said the fate of Sulpicio Lines? six other passenger vessels was not known yet.

MARINA confirms

Col. Primo Rivera, MARINA deputy administrator for operations, Wednesday confirmed that he signed on Saturday the order allowing the Cotabato Princess and the Princess of the Earth to sail again.

That means the two vessels are seaworthy after passing the second audit by the MARINA personnel, according to Rivera.

He said the order allowing the two vessels to sail had no limitation, which means that both ships can carry passengers.

Rivera said he signed the order lifting the hold order upon the directive of Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista.

He said Bautista issued the order based on instructions from Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

All passenger vessels of Sulpicio Lines were grounded after the Princess of Stars, the company?s flagship vessel, capsized off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province on June 21 when it sailed into the eye of Typhoon ?Frank? (international codename: Fengshen).

Only 56 of the ferry?s 864 passengers and crew survived. Some 200 bodies have so far been recovered. The rest have been declared missing and presumed dead.

Human error

Initial findings of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) showed that the ?primary root cause? of the sinking was the captain?s poor judgment, a member of the fact-finding panel said Wednesday.

Captain Demetrio Ferrer, vice chair of the BMI, said the captain?s failure to take ?evasive action? during the ferry?s voyage from Manila was the main reason for its sinking.

?Human error is the principal mistake on the part of this tragedy,? Ferrer said.

The ship?s captain should have realized it was not safe to go out, he added.

Sulpicio Lines earlier blamed the weather bureau for forecasting that the storm would move in another direction.

The company?s nine cargo vessels were allowed to resume operations on July 23 so as not to hamper the movement of goods in the country. Sulpicio Lines? cargo ships account for about 40 percent of the cargoes being moved across the seas in the country.

Tighter safety measures

Ferrer said the captain of the Princess of the Stars had instruments aboard the vessel that would have detected an approaching storm.

The vessel?s captain was identified as Florencio Marimon Sr., who has remained missing.

While recommending tighter safety measures, the BMI would still study documentary evidence before coming up with a final conclusion, according to Ferrer.

Rear Adm. Ramon Liwag, the BMI chair, said the panel?s findings would not touch on the criminal liability of the ship owner or the persons and agencies involved in the ship?s movements.

Just fact-finding

The BMI also did not disclose its findings on toxic chemicals stowed in the ship, saying it was part of a civil case.

?There is no criminal liability. It?s a fact-finding mission to determine the lapses in the system, in the vessels and the officers. There will be administrative liability, but it will be limited,? Liwag explained.

He also noted that the report would recommend policy changes to MARINA and the Professional Regulatory Commission, the agencies authorized to revoke and suspend the licenses of officials and boats.

The BMI report, a product of about a month?s worth of hearings, will be submitted on Thursday to the Philippine Coast Guard chief, Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, according to Liwag.

Absence of limitation

Rivera said it was not specified in the MARINA order if the operation of the two vessels could carry cargo and passengers.

But in the absence of any limitation, Rivera said the vessels could carry passengers too.

Rivera said the six other passenger-cargo vessels of Sulpicio Lines had also passed the second audit after correcting the deficiencies found by inspections teams.

However, the MARINA board of directors, chaired by Mendoza, has yet to decide whether to lift the order grounding them.

Rivera said the MARINA board could still review the recommendations of the inspection teams, especially those about the different level of deficiencies of the vessels.

The audit only covers the ?hardware,? or the seaworthiness of the vessel and MARINA still has to audit the ?software,? or the operational system of the shipping company.

Rivera said the software audit would take a long time because it would mean checking on the procurement system of the spare parts and how the company maintains its vessels among others.

Routes

Florido said the company would announce later when the two ships would sail again to which routes.

Before its operation was suspended, the Princess of the Earth plied the Cebu-Butuan route daily. There was no listing on the company?s website for the route of the Cotabato Princess.

Florido said the company would hire back workers who were let go because of the suspension of its operation.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) earlier claimed that the company had laid off more than 200 crewmen because of the suspension of the Sulpicio Lines vessels.

ALU-TUCP is the mother organization of the Sulpicio Lines Employees Union. With a report from Agence France-Presse