MANILA, Philippines—A year after the MV Princess of the Stars tragedy, the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday announced that it had found probable cause to indict for the loss of hundreds of lives the ship captain who had been declared dead and a top officer of the shipping company.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said she had ordered the filing in the Manila Regional Trial Court of charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide against Capt. Florencio Marimon and Sulpicio Lines Inc. executive Edgar Go.

Bail was set at P320,000 for their provisional liberty. The Bureau of Immigration was also ordered to place Go and Marimon on its watch list to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Sulpicio Lines lawyer Manuel Espina declined comment, saying he had not been authorized to issue a statement.

Devanadera’s directive followed a yearlong inquiry by a DOJ panel whose recommendation was approved by Senior Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Severino Gana.

The Princess of the Stars capsized on June 20, 2008, off Romblon’s Sibuyan Island amid the raging fury of Typhoon “Frank.” The ship carried 864 people aboard, only 57 of whom survived.
The tragedy was the worst since the MV Doña Paz, also owned by Sulpicio Lines, collided with the oil tanker MT Vector, leaving 4,000 people dead.

“(Edgar Go) is inarguably involved in making decisions on whether a vessel would be allowed to sail out of the Port of Manila,” the DOJ panel said in its 48-page resolution of the complaint by the families of 23 victims and the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.

“Considering the severe weather condition prevailing at that time, prudence should have dictated (Go) to cancel or discourage Voyage No. 392 of the Princess of the Stars,” it added.

“There is no shred of doubt that (Marimon) was negligent in navigating along the vessel’s regular route to Cebu when Typhoon Signal No. 3 had already been hoisted in Mindoro and Romblon,” the panel said.

“This is bolstered by the fact that ’Stars’ was the only vessel that proceeded on its voyage and did not take shelter after Severe Weather Bulletin No. 9 was issued by Pagasa,” it added.

No death certificate

Senior State Prosecutor Emilia Victorio, chair of the DOJ panel, said the department would file the case against Marimon despite reports that he was one of those who perished.

“There is no death certificate submitted to us. As far as the panel is concerned, he is still a respondent,” Victorio told the Inquirer.

On Sept. 10 2008, the National Bureau of Investigation disaster victim identification team, composed of Interpol and NBI experts, announced in Cebu City that Marimon’s body was among the fatalities recovered.

The body was claimed by the family and hurriedly buried later in the day at the Pardo Public Cemetery for fear of reprisal by relatives of the victims.

Dr. Renato Bautista, head of the team in Cebu, reconfirmed on Monday that Marimon’s body was identified on the basis of blood samples provided by his son and another close relative.

But Maria G-ree Calinawan, regional director of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) in Cebu City, said her office did not believe that Marimon was dead because the NBI team had refused to issue a document confirming his death.

Calinawan also said there were rumors then that Marimon had been seen, but the information had not been validated.

Others ordered probed

The DOJ panel recommended that further investigation be conducted against Sulpicio captains Rizaldy Ponteres and Benjamin Eugenio and Philippine Coast Guard PO1 Felix Rizaldy Sardan in connection with the ship setting sail amid stormy seas.

The complaints against other Sulpicio Lines executives—Go family members Enrique, Eusebio, Carlos, Victoriano, Dominador, Ricardo and Edward—were all dismissed “for insufficiency of evidence.”

The panel also recommended that the Office of the Ombudsman investigate officers and employees of the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Ports Authority and the Philippine Coast Guard for the entry into the country of the deadly pesticide endosulfan and its subsequent transshipment on the ill-fated vessel.

While the panel declared that there was insufficient evidence to indicate that endosulfan was loaded in the Princess of the Stars without a special permit, it believed that “something was amiss” in the handling of the dangerous cargo.

Franchise cancellation urged

Susan Lisbo, 45, a survivor, warned that the Princess of the Stars tragedy might be repeated unless the government makes the temporary grounding of 18 Sulpicio vessels permanent.

“Once the franchise is revoked, Sulpicio Lines can no longer be responsible for any other tragedy. Otherwise, this will go on and on,” said Lisbo, who lost a cousin during the incident.

Sulpicio Lines has figured in at least three other major maritime mishaps over the past two decades, including the Doña Paz disaster. In all three incidents, however, the shipping company has been cleared of any criminal responsibility.

Dismay over identification

Also on Monday, PAO chief Persida Acosta said that her office would file a motion to exhume 50 bodies following complaints by relatives that the process of identification was unsatisfactory.

“The relatives feel that the victims cannot be identified through DNA,” she explained in a telephone interview.

Acosta said there were plans to invite local forensic experts who may be able to establish the identities of the victims through an examination of their bones.

“It is also possible that we can look at the personal effects inside the body bags that are recovered along with the victims,” she added.

Acosta said relatives had complained they were not given access to the recovered bodies.

“Only representatives of the (NBI) and Sulpicio Lines were allowed inside the funeral parlors,” she said.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon said that while the DOJ was now moving against Sulpicio Lines, much-needed reforms such as the Coast Guard bill, the Maritime Code, and the creation of the National Transportation Safety Board as well as other proposals of past Board of Marine Inquiries remained pending.

“After the heat of the news about the Princess of the Stars tragedy died down, Congress has likewise forgotten these bills which would institute reform in the maritime industry. In 1997, when the Bureau of Marine Inquiry investigated the sinking of the Princess of the Orient, it warned that if reforms were not effected, sea tragedies would continue to occur. Prophetically, it did happen again with the Princess of the Stars,” Biazon said in a text message.