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Arroyo finds PCG guideline against ships sailing in a storm

Princess of the Stars should have stayed, she says
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:08:00 06/23/2008


MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo insisted anew that the ship that capsized off Romblon at the height of Typhoon Frank’s (international codename: Fengshen) fury should not have sailed based on the guidelines of the Philippine Coast Guard.
Arroyo read a portion of the PCG guidelines during a meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) early dawn Monday in Malacañang, which she presided through a video conference from Fresno, California.
"I'm just looking at the guidelines . . . policy general … if any vessel is scheduled to depart … the operator of the vessel should study carefully the typhoon movement to ensure that the vessel will not be within the area directly affected by the typhoon signals 1, 2, 3 and 4 within the danger sector until they reach their destination. So hindi totoo yung sinasabi mong walang prohibition, nandito yun sa guidelines ninyo [So what you’re saying that there is no prohibition is not true, it’s here in your guidelines]," she said.
"And then furthermore [guideline] No. 3, no vessel shall sail except to take shelter if public storm signal warning is hoisted in the point of origin, the route, and the point of destination, so it's not true what you said yesterday that there are no absolute prohibitions, there are," Arroyo added.
Arroyo raised the matter after the owner of Sulpicio Lines, Edward Go, told NDCC and Cabinet officials that the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, a 24-year-old ship, has passed all maritime requirements and has all the certificates.
The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines, sailed from Manila at 8 a.m. on Friday on a 22-hour trip to Cebu City with 626 passengers and 121 crewmen. Among the passengers were 31 infants and 20 children.
In an interview after the meeting, Go insisted that his company had not violated any law.
"We are following the maritime commerce law. We're not blaming the
Coast Guard, we're just following the law, what the law says," he told reporters.
During the teleconference Sunday, a visibly irked Arroyo repeatedly demanded to know from Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo when the Coast Guard issued the warning to all vessels not to sail.
"When? When did you issue the warning? When did you issue the warning to all vessels?"' Arroyo, voiced raised, asked the official.
She asked "when" at least six times while the official tried to explain that the ill-fated vessel did not violate the guidelines when it left port.
"They could have sought shelter in Batangas port," Arroyo had said.
Go said the vessels, with 23,824 tonnage, could sail as it was not covered by the Coast Guard prohibition.
Memorandum circular 0407 dated June 2007 signed by then Coast Guard Commander Admiral Damian Carlos, said that they would only hold the departure of below 2,000 gross tonnage vessels if the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) would declare signal number 2 either in the port of origin or port of destination or both.
If PAGASA will declare signal number 3, all vessels will be barred from sailing.
The new memorandum changed an old guideline which allowed the Coast Guard to bar vessels below 1,000 gross tonnage if signal number 1 was declared.
The old guideline was changed because of complaints from vessel owners who claimed that in previous situations where the PAGASA had declared signal number 1, the weather condition remained normal.