MARITIME WATCHKEEPER

MALAYA
by JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR

“TRANSPORTATION Secretary Leandro Mendoza yesterday said the Board of Marine Inquiry will be impartial in its investigation on the condition of the vessels of Sulpicio Lines which accounts for 40 percent of the shipping operations in the country.” More..

What kind of assurance is this coming from the DOTC Secretary that has been haled to court for charges of graft and corruption in connection with the conclusions made after the investigations into the Superferry 14 accident that sank the vessel? Let’s revisit that case filed with the Ombudsman in 2004 against the Secretaries of the DOJ and DOTC.  According to the complainant when contacted last Monday, she has never been afforded with any kind of reply regarding the status or disposition of the case that she filed with the Ombudsman.

Partly, the case was filed due to the failure of the BMI to even acknowledge the existence of a MARINA report on the Superferry 14 accident which gave a different version to that which blamed the fire as the handiwork of terrorists.

This refusal to hear formally the complaint without any valid or understandable reason speaks loudly about the “rule of law” that this Administration loudly proclaims as an assurance that it talks and deals straight as an arrow.  But things are not what they sound to be; and so, why could this new BMI investigation be different from the last one?

Secretary Mendoza was briefed for two days when he assumed the leadership at the DOTC in 2002.  He said he learned a lot out of those two days, however, we were wrong in expecting that he would correct the practices that were brought to his attention.  Most of the objectionable practices from the previous Administration were simply carried over to the new one and with the same players easily jumping from the Erap gravy train to Gloria’s.

The Secretary’s words of assurance mean nothing to those that have clearly seen that he is able to act only in the interest of the people close to the President and not for the rest of the citizens of the Republic.

After each sea tragedy, what follows is a predictable and routine series of events purported to symphatize with relatives of victims and the survivors, the start of the finger-pointing season, issuances of headline grabbing one-liners, trial by publicity, imposition of sanctions sans due process, a flurry to hold public hearings, and the eventual formation of a Presidential maritime task force that would result in a formal statement that henceforth such tragedies would never happen again.

Once the media has lost interest on the matter, everything dies down and it is back to normal again…… at least, until the next tragedy. (more…)