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MANILA, Philippines -- Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong have petitioned President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to revoke the license of Sulpicio Lines Inc. and investigate government agencies that may be liable for the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, an activist priest said Wednesday.
Fr. Robert Reyes said he went around Hong Kong Sunday with the petition letter and gathered around 300 signatures of OFWs, most of them from the Visayas and, thus, familiar with the track record of the shipping firm.
He accompanied relatives of the ferry sinking who filed a civil suit against SLI with the Manila regional trial court.
Reyes said he delivered a copy of the letter to SLI?s office at the Manila North harbor but officials of the shipping firm refused to receive it.
The Maritime Industry Authority, the Board of Marine Inquiry, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Department of Transportation and Communication will also be furnished copies of the letter within the week, he said.
Reyes, known as the ?running priest? for the manner in which he often promotes his advocacies, said the Visayan OFWs referred to SLI?s passenger ships as ?floating coffins? that should no longer be allowed to sail.
SLI owns the Princess of the Stars, which capsized and sank with more than 800 passengers and crew off Romblon province after sailing into the path of typhoon ?Frank? (international codename: Fengshen) on June 21.
The petition demanded ?more decisive and critical action? from government to prevent similar maritime tragedies and urged Arroyo to take measures to ensure ?inept? government agencies involved in the ?monitoring and supervising? of the local maritime industry be made accountable for the ferry sinking.
?Government officials in the agencies tasked with monitoring and supervising the maritime industry must likewise be investigated to determine if there was negligence and failure on their part, to discharge their functions appropriately, and if negligence is found, then it must be punished accordingly,? the OFWs said in their letter.
They called the brief grounding of SLI?s fleet, which was lifted for its cargo vessels, ?utterly shocking.?
Reyes said the Princess of the Stars is the fifth SLI vessel to sink with a massive loss of life.
On December 20, 1987, more than 4,000 were believed to have died with the MV Doña Paz sank after colliding with an oil tanker in what has been dubbed the worst peacetime maritime disaster.
Other SLI vessels on which lives were lost were the MV Doña Marilyn, which capsized on October 24, 1988, MV Princess of the Orient, which sank near Fortune Island Batangas on September 18, 1998, and MV Princess of the World, which caught fire off the Zamboanga peninsula on July 7, 2005.
?The disaster record of the company calls for more decisive and stringent measures from the government, both against the company, and towards monitoring and supervising the domestic maritime industry,? the OFWs said in their letter.
They also dismissed SLI?s contention that the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration?s alleged failure to deliver prompt and correct weather updates was to blame for the sinking of the Princess of the Stars.
?It was the responsibility of the shipping company to be aware of the weather conditions on the day of its voyage, to ensure that they are able to transport their passengers and goods to safety,? the petition said.
