OVERLOADING did not cause the MB Kim Nirvana to capsize, the head of the Marina told a hearing of a committee of the House of Representatives Thursday.
Marina administrator Maximo Mejia Jr. told the transportation committee that “overcrowding” and “misloading” were to blame for the tragedy.
The motor banca could carry a hundred of carabaos without sinking as long as they were distributed evenly, said Mejia, head of the country’s maritime industry regulating body.
“Under the conditions of the grant of the franchise, the ship owner is obligated to maintain all its safety operations at all times and not overload the vessel. In this particular case, there is no overloading in terms of the weight but there was misloading,” Mejia said.
The Marina head explained that overloading was measured by weight and not by the number of people on board.
Mejia said there was “overcrowding” on the vessel because, according to the Coast Guard, there were more than 200 passengers on the boat when its capacity was only 178.
Nevertheless, while the overcrowding violated the Kim Nirvana’s franchise and it could have cancelled its clearance to sail, the number of its passengers could not have caused it to sink.
He said that based on their estimates, the motor banca weighed 50 tons before it sailed. Its capacity was up to 100 tons.
“The accident was not caused by an excess in number of passengers but rather by the negligent operations of the captain,” Mejia said.
Citing negligence, police have filed murder charges against ship operator Jorge Bong Zarco, captain Warren Oliviero and 17 crew members. The captain and the crew all survived the tragedy.
Latest figures show that 62 people were killed in the sinking, which happened some 200 meters off the port of Ormoc City, Leyte, last week. The wooden motor banca capsized minutes after it left port for Camotes Island some 44 kilometers away.
Mejia said Marina grounded all its wooden bancas pending its review on reinstating Memorandum Circular 190, which would have phased out wooden hulled vessels.
He said the circular’s implementation was stopped because his superiors think the move is “uneconomical and disruptive.”
“So the economic reason is more primordial than the safety of passengers? Then I’m not surprised this accident happened,” Rep. Romeo Acop said.
Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo said the memorandum circular should be revived to phase out the types of wooden hulled vessels like MB Nirvana.
“We should be more concerned with the safety of our passengers instead of getting more profits out of these businesses,” Castelo said.
But Mejia said the board would have to review the proposal rather than phase out wooden hulled vessels as an immediate reaction to the tragedy.
North Cotabato Rep. Jose Tejada meanwhile questioned why murder charges were filed, saying the role of the ship operator and captain could only be negligence resulting in homicide.
He expressed fears that the ship operator and captain would be spared from accountability in court because of this technicality.
For his part, Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon called for the passage of his bill for the creation of a National Transport Safety Board, which would investigate all maritime disasters.
The PCG is also conducting an investigation on the tragedy.
“How can we expect integrity of the investigation kung ang nag-iimbestiga sila ang dapat imbestigahan?” Biazon said.