‘Jail the ship captains now’

WHERE are the two captains involved in the fatal sea collision?

If Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo would have his way, he wanted the skippers of MV St. Thomas Aquinas and MV Sulpicio Express Siete incarcerated right away to ensure their appearance in legal proceedings that would get underway in connection with Friday night’s accident near Lawis Ledge off Talisay City.

Carillo, a lawyer, said Capt. Reynan Bermejo of St. Thomas Aquinas and Capt. Rolito Gilo of Sulpicio Express Siete should be placed under the custody of the Philippine Coast Guard and be held liable for reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide.

“Ang ordinary driver ma-detain man gani ug makapatay sa vehicular accident,” he said.

(Ordinary drivers get arrested when they get involved in a vehicular accident where somebody gets killed)

Both shipping lines were earlier reported to have admitted that they have taken custody of their respective ship masters.

He said that unlike in the case of the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars, a Sulpicio-owned vessel that sank in 2008, the ship captain Florencio Marimon went down with the passenger ferry. In the Lawis Ledge accident, the captains of the two vessel are both alive and should be made to face responsibility.

Carillo expressed concern that the focus on the retrieval of the bodies of the trapped passengers and the containment of the oil spill would bring attention away from the liability of the two ship captains.

The councilor claimed that coast guard district commander Commo. William Melad told him by phone that they would attend to his concern once they complete the investigation.

Melad could not be immediately reached to comment on the claim.

Carillo told Cebu Daily News that a criminal complaint may be filed against the two captains even pending the investigation on the sinking.

“A criminal case should be filed against them as soon as possible. The complainant should be the Republic of the Philippines on behalf of the casualties and their families,” he said.“What is important is that by now they [the two ship captains] will have to answer. With what is happening is that the concentration is on the retrieval operations. Basin malipat ta sa criminal liability and people have been killed and injured,” he said.

Search continues

Navy and coast guard divers, as well as volunteer technical divers, will again try to go underwater today and continue searching for bodies believed to be trapped inside the sunken MV St. Thomas Aquinas.

“We are expecting there will be more bodies that will be recovered,” said Neil Sanchez, head of the Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council.

Diving operations were called off yesterday due to big waves and strong undercurrent.

A total of 73 volunteer technical divers, divided into five groups, will attempt to dive by day break today. Sanchez said the divers prefer to start their search early in the morning when the water is clear.

At least five bodies were recovered yesterday. Residents in Cordova town found four bodies while one drifted to Cuaming island in Inabanga, Bohol.

Vidasto Quidato of Lapu-Lapu City, said, his mother-in-law Rebecca Lapincao sought his help to inform authorities in Cebu of a dead body that washed ashore. “Gusto na gyud nilang ilubong kay baho na kaayo, wa man gyud kuhaa ganiha pa man tong buntag. Tua lang nila gibutang duol sa menteryo,” Quidato said.

(The villagers wanted to bury the body because of its foul odor. Nobody came to get the body which was taken to the cemetery.)

At 6 a.m. yesterday, members of the Cordova Marine Watch found the body of a female child and a male body along the shoreline of barangay Day-as. The male body had a wallet with a driver’s license in the name of Abraham Sumayang Coma.

Several minutes later, two more bodies of female children were found in barangay Bagbag. By noon, fishermen found the decomposing body of a man that also yielded a wallet with a driver’s license belonging to Dayday Laag Santos. A mobile phone and cash amounting to P2,620 was also retrieved from the body. / Doris Bongcac, Jhunnex Napallacan, Christine Pantaleon and Michelle Padayhag