SUPER FERRY 14:  Ombudsman CASE C—06 1415

FATEMAH REMEDIOS C.BALBIN,Ph.D

On February 27, 2004, the Superferry 14, a 192, 10-tonnage ferry, bound for Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, was destroyed by fire accompanied by explosions while sailing out of Manila, approximately 90 minutes out of port. It reported initially 702 passengers and crew. This figure was later raised to a total of 900, with 63 people killed immediately, and 53 missing and later presumed dead. It was reported that the ferry was in fact allowed to carry 1, 747 persons.

Immediately, the PNP blamed it on the Abu Sayyaf, an alleged terrorist group composed mainly of Muslims based in Southern Philippines. This claim was denied by  other government authorities, and two days after the incident, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself  spoke up to personally deny over media that the fire and explosion were the handiwork of terrorists. She stressed that there was no terrorist hand involved. However, despite her public pronouncement, the military and PNP insisted that the explosions, which occurred after the fire started, were caused by Muslim terrorists.

MARINA Administrator Oscar Sevilla, by virtue of Special Order 121-04 of February 27, 2004, pursuant to E.O. 125, Section 125-A promptly took action. He created a team of engineers composed of Rogelio Samonte, Ruben R. Tejada, Jose J. Teano and Marilou C. Morales. With the team was Hisashi Terada, MARINA-JICA expert/consultant.

The MARITIME INDUSTRY AUTHORITY TEAM under the leadership of the Complaints and Investigation Division, led by Chief Arnie F. Santiago conducted an investigation while the super ferry was still afloat although listing on its side, and the evidence of the cause of the fire and explosions, clearly intact. On March 2, 2004, or four (4) days after the incident, it released its report. This was made an integral part of the Complaint filed by this writer with the Ombudsman  on July 21, 2006.

THE MARINA REPORT

                        As stressed earlier, the Maritime Authority (MARINA) Team under the leadership of the Complaints and Investigation Division led by Chief Arnie F.Santiago conducted an investigation , while the Super ferry was still afloat, with the Team  completing its report four (4) days after the tragic incident.

                        The pertinent excerpt of the Report, which was released to media, and which we quote from Mr. Federico Pascual Jr.’s news column. POSTCRIPTS, The Philippine Star, 3/5/04, p.13.. states:

                        “The fire occurred in the paint storage beside the fan room at the funnel port side prior to the explosion. The heated fan room caused the transmission of heat to other sidewall through convection, causing fire in another paint storage room.”

                        The bar and electrical panel located at the lower portion of the Paint room and fan room was affected. When the accumulated hot vapors generated by the heat reached ignition temperature, the hot gases caused an explosion and fire occurred.

                        The explosion that was heard by passengers was the result of the hot vapors   between the ceiling and the weather deck that gave off and immediately exploded which resulted in the  fire.

                        Due to the impact of the explosions, the ceiling of the red section was detached and fell on the lower deck causing the breaking of the glass door of the orange section.

                        Traces of paint indicate that fire occurred in the weather deck prior to the explosions at the bar counter and electrical panel portion at the promenade  deck.

                        The crew fighting the fire used fire-hoses that caused paint to spill on the deck instead of applying CO2 (carbon dioxide) or dry chemical for type-B fire (paint).”

The above findings and report were reviewed and unanimously approved by the investigation team created by MARINA Administrator Oscar Sevilla under Special Order 121-04 dated February 27, 2004, under E.O. 125 (See 125-A).

Despite the above-quoted findings of the MARINA team that there was no bomb or explosive materials within the alleged area of explosion,  Government Officials (Sec.Raul Gonzales, and Sec,Leandro  Mendoza, together with Capt. Manzo  of Superferry 14) ,the latter  insisted that the explosions were the handiwork of terrorists, and their respective subordinates  of these officials confirmed this theory.

The MARINA report was later declared inaccessible to the public allegedly because it was being reviewed  by higher authorities. However, several months later, on October 12, 2004, coinciding with the first one-hundred days of President Arroyo’s presidency after the May 2004 presidential elections, she proclaimed:

                        “In the first 100 days of my administration, we have been able to stabilize our security situation”

With this announcement, the Department of Justice announced that it was charging the following persons with multiple counts of murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder, namely Abu Soliman, Alhamser Manatad Limbong, alias Kosovo; Redendo Cain Dellosa, alias Habil Akmad Dellosa and Gamal Baharan, alias Tapay.

“STAR”  SUSPECT REDENDO DELLOSA

Long before the above October 12, 2004 presidential  announcement, or on March 22, 2004, at about 11 p.m., Redendo Dellosa was abducted while walking home along Boni Avenue, and placed under detention without any criminal charge by the PNP, led by a certain PNP officer whose name he later learned to be PNSP Armando L. Barbasa, Jr.

He was held by the PNP in a “safehouse somewhere”. He was blindfolded and accused of being “Passenger No. 51 of Superferry 14”. Throughout, he was subjected to intense physical torture and violence on his person, as a result of which he suffered unbearable pain inflicted by unidentified PNP interrogators who ordered him to admit that he blew up the Super ferry last February 27, 2004;

Because of the torture he suffered, he felt exhausted and weak from the brutality inflicted on his person, beginning form the moment of his abduction. His abductors covered his head with a plastic bag, his eyes covered by a black cloth as a blindfolded, with his interrogators simultaneously “pinching” his neck so he could hardly breathe, and electric current was applied to his penis (kinuryente).  He recalls quite vaguely that in this condition he was made to sign something; or thumbmark something. He does not know what happened but they told him later that they had extracted an admission- a confession from him, about the Superferry incident. (Exhibit “B” affidavit of Dellosa before DOJ)

His PNPN handlers said that he signed or thumbmarked a confession admitting his accountability for the Superferry Bombing and Fire, although up to this date, no one has shown him a copy of his alleged confession; (Ibid)

Although he was told after the October 12 media announcements by Malacañang that the Superferry bombing was solved with his arrest, he has yet to receive to this day, a formal charge of his alleged participation in the Superferry 14 fire and explosions

Meanwhile, the MARINA REPORT was withheld and withdrawn from circulation. On October 12, 2004, marking the first 100 days of her presidency after the May 2004 elections, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed at a press conference:

“Today, we have solved the Superferry bombing. I am now instructing the police and the military to intensify the manhunt for the two masterminds Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Solaiman – and their two accomplices. * * * (See Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 14, 2004, A-1)

DOTC Leandro Mendoza explained the  Department’s eight-months delay in the release of the investigation results, conspicuously ignoring and excluding any reference to the MARINA investigation and report, stated:

            “* * *THE INVESTIGATION DRAGGED ON BECAUSE IT TOOK FIVE MONTHS TO RAISE THE FERRY, WHICH ENDED UP LYING IN ITS SIDE IN SHALLOW WATER. ONLY THEN WERE INVESTIGATORS ABLE TO TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE TANGLE OF TWISTED METAL AND CONCLUDE THAT A BOMB HAD CAUSED THE DISASTER”. (Ibid. emphasis supplied.) 

Nowhere was there any mention made of the earlier MARINA Report based on the investigation conducted by the MARINA team two days after the incident, and submitted to higher authorities on March 2, 2004, stating unequivocally that there was no bomb or explosion involved in the Superferry 14 incident.

PAINT AND OTHER COMBUSTIBLE CARGO

The MARINA Report found that there were several kinds of paint to be used on the Superferry 14  when it drydocks at the end of its voyage.  It also reported  the finding of the MARINA Team who conducted the investigation found that the fire, which was followed by explosions, came from the room where the paints were stored.   

It likewise appears that the Superferry 14 carried several tons of fertilizers. These fertilizers when placed at high temperature can result in explosions, the same way as the paints explode.

These facts were evident and known to the ship captain, Respondent Manzo, yet he did not admit to the truth of these significant pieces of information, nor did he testify to any fact, for fear of incriminating himself as “grossly negligent” in the performance of his duties as  ship captain. 

CONLCUSION

            There was a deliberate intent on the part of the Government to change the conclusion of the MARINA Report to support a totally different conclusion to support the claim that indeed, the “terrorists” led by Dellosa and Limbong caused the fire and explosion. The Respondent officials saw the government advantage to be gained in ruling out Respondent captain’s negligence, which would have negated insurance liability. Hence, the shift to a conclusion of a full blown terrorist attack, with the government also gaining political mileage and propaganda success in the war on terror. President Macapagal Arroyo, immediately rode on the “solution” of the Superferry explosion during the first 100 days of her administration, when in fact, these two persons were  innocent of any alleged participation , particularly Dellosa who was working regularly at the Liberty Broadcasting Corporation in MakatiCity, as his family’s sole breadwinner.. 

UP-DATE: FOUR YEARS LATER ,TODAY

On July 21, 2004, this writer filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against Sec. of Justice Raul Gonzales, Sec. Leadro Mendoza of the Dept of Transportation and Communications , and Captain Manzano  for “changing the facts” – a criminal act punishable under the  Art.171 of the Revised Penal Code, aside from Art.183 and Art.184 of the same Code.

Despite the lapse of time, and the continuous reference by Government to the  Superferry 14  case as the brilliant  example of Government’s success in its fight against terrorism, no action has been taken to prove its case.  Its continuous reference to the incident however -– the repetitious discussion  of the incident in  anti-terrorist fora  sponsored by Government  – no matter how hollow – has led Government , particularly Sec.Ricardo Blancaflor, Undersecretary for Security, to believe  in the sounds and echoes of the propaganda they themselves have created.

This  Ombudsman case filed by this writer was meant to challenge the Government to tell the truth about the Superferry 14, and to stop it from putting the blame on the Abu  Sayyaf for the tragedy.  Despite his many photo-ops with the President of the Philippines,   Dellosa peering nonchalantly from behind  the  long-firearms displayed for effect, the Government has refused to go to court to prove its case against Dellosa and the other innocent young people whom it has accused of bringing down the Superferry 14 and other crimes. The Government’s  present strategy is to blame Dellosa for the Tumahubong kidnapping and some other crimes of the Abu Sayyaf just to have legal justification  for his continued detention in  the Bicutan Detention Center and support its claim that it is winning “the war against terror.”

Meanwhile, Dellosa’s parents pray for the return of their sole breadwinner, even as he sees his youth  irretrievably slipping away for a deed that he has not committed. And   to the Ombudsman, the case remains  in the files, “under evaluation.”