Survivors in ferry sinking reveal more violations
More violations of passenger safety laws emerged on Thursday as members of the House of Representatives and the Senate continued their respective investigations into the sinking of MV Trisha Kerstin 3 on Jan. 26 that left 53 people dead and 26 others still missing.
At a hearing of the House committee on transportation, survivors of the sinking testified that life jackets on the three-deck ferry were locked up in cabinets and that many were broken, lacked whistles or were tightly knotted.
Other survivors who appeared before the Senate testified that they informed the crew that the Jolo, Sulu-bound roll-on, roll-off vessel was already tilting even while passengers and vehicles were still boarding in Zamboanga City.
The vessel’s owner, Aleson Shipping Lines, has already been suspended, and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has said it would likely face criminal and administrative charges for the safety violations that continue to emerge in congressional hearings.
Inaccessible life jackets
Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who was at the House hearing, asked the DOTr to cancel the shipping line’s permit to operate, given its history of being involved in maritime incidents.
Tan lamented that the company had become complacent because it escaped liability in the past. The vessel was bound for Jolo, Sulu, when it sank.
“We will not allow (Aleson) to be given a [free] pass this time,” he said.
Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez earlier noted that before the Jan. 26 sinking, Aleson had logged 32 maritime incidents since 2019.
In the House hearing, survivor Fatima Sweenee Sajili testified that life jackets were locked away in storage cabinets, in violation of maritime rules, and passengers had to kick them open.
“The cabinet for life jackets was locked, so we had to forcefully open it,” fellow survivor Muzaheeda Ismi said.
Even after opening the cabinets, Ismi said, the life vests were “double-knotted” so tightly they could not be used immediately. “When we opened the life jacket, it was broken … and there were no whistles,” she added.
Assistant Transportation Secretary Villamor Ventura Plan confirmed that locking away life-saving equipment is a clear violation of maritime memorandum circulars, which require such gear to be accessible at all times.
Zoe Goco, lawyer of Aleson Shipping Lines, admitted that standard operating procedures prohibit locking away life vest cabinets, but that on an “operational level,” the ship’s crew is responsible for ensuring the equipment is accessible.
Founded in 1976, Aleson operates a fleet of at least 36 vessels and is the largest shipping operator in Western Mindanao.
Ship already tilted
At the Senate hearing, Sajili testified that concerned passengers informed crewmen that the vessel was listing, but they were told that the captain was not worried.
“All survivors had one observation: the weather was calm, but the ship was overloaded and tilted,” Sajili, speaking on behalf of all the survivors, said in her testimony delivered in Filipino. “We want to clarify that the ship was already tilted while it was still at the dock.”
Jul-anni Ismula Warik, another survivor, said he started to notice the ship was tilted at the Zamboanga port at around 10:20 p.m. on Jan. 25.
The Trisha Kerstin 3 made a distress call at around 1:50 a.m. on Jan. 26 off Baluk-Baluk Island in Hadji Muhtamad town, Basilan.
Lopez said on Wednesday that overloading and the lack of a predeparture safety audit were among the possible reasons for the sinking of the ferry.
Cargo shift
According to Lopez, the combined weight of the passengers and the cargo may have been above the vessel’s capacity, which could have caused a “cargo shift” in the rolling cargoes.
Authorities further learned that the rolling cargoes—which included vehicles, such as trucks and motorcycles—did not pass through the port’s weighing bridge.
Six Philippine Coast Guard and eight Maritime Industry Authority personnel involved in the sinking incident have since been relieved from their posts, with some of them also facing administrative cases.
