‘PH doesn’t regulate jet skis, seacraft operators’

The Philippines is the only country in the world that doesn’t issue licenses to operators of seacraft like jet skis and banana boats, a veteran Cebu dive operator said the other day.

“There is no law against it. There is no law regulating it. Boat operators should be trained and licensed. You ride at your own risk. Jet skis can be deadly. People think it’s just another seacraft but it doesn’t have a brake,” said Gary Cases, who runs a dive shop in Malapascua and has been diving for the past 34 years.

He said tourists unfamiliar with riding jet skis and banana boats should be properly oriented first and required to sign a waiver before being allowed to ride them.

Cases also called for the regulation of all personal water crafts like jet skis and speed boats.

“Before signing, you have to give an orientation… how to use and behave in a banana boat,” he said.

A 50-year-old Korean tourist Ji Sung Sook was killed in a midsea collision between a banana boat that she and her three female friends were riding and a motorized pumpboat loaded with Korean tourists.

Sook died while her friends were treated for injuries in a Mactan hospital.

The inflatable raft was pulled by a jet ski.

Jet ski driver Joavanni Paquibot and pumpboat operator Alsin Tongco were released from detention on Wednesday after police filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.

It is unclear whether the case will prosper since the tourists will return to South Korea, and are not likely to return to testify in court.

Kenneth Han, manager of the Korean Department of Travelvision, a travel agency based in Cebu, said operators should prioritize the safety of their clients.

He said the government should look into the safety of all water sports facilities in the country to prevent a similar accident.

Han confirmed that most South Korean tourists who try out water sports are first-timers.

He said he asked a Korean-owned aqua sports firm what kind of safety measures they took for their clients.

“They only ask them to sign but actually they are not completely oriented on the safety regulations,” he said.

“Most Koreans don’t know how to ride a banana boat to use a Jet Ski because they are only beginners. We expect other Korean tour operators to spend 10 to 20 minutes orienting them on the safety regulations.”

Meanwhile, Cases said dive shop operators should be accredited with the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD).

Commission officials inspected 34 dive shops in Mactan Island after last Sunday’s collision.

Helen Etcuban, licensing in charge of PCSSD, said the dive shop named Manta Aqua Sports Inc. used to be with Sea Adventure Aqua Sports Inc., which used to operate under EGI Resort.

Etcuban said they only learned in yesterday’s inspection that Sea Adventure cut its ties with the resort this year and that Manta broke off with Sea Adventure not long after.

Etcuban said the commission only accredited Sea Adventure, one of whose stockholders was a Cebu city lawyer, Juan Astete Jr.

She said they will check the location of the shop this week.  With Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza