SULPICIO   LOSES  COURT  CASE
 
CEBU, JULY 4, 2008 (STAR) A Regional Trial Court judge here awarded P6 million to the heirs of one of the fatalities in the M/V Princess of the Orient, another ship owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc., which sank off Batangas in 1998.

Reporters got a copy only last Wednesday of the ruling issued by Judge Estella Alma Singco last Feb. 1. The judge found Sulpicio Lines liable for civil damages for the death of Ernesto Unabia, one of 70 confirmed fatalities when Princess of the Orient sank after being battered by strong waves near Fortune Island in Batangas on Sept. 18, 1998. Eighty passengers and crew remain missing.

Sulpicio Lines is currently facing a possible class suit for the death of more than 800 people after the company-owned liner M/V Princess of the Stars sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon at the height of typhoon “Frank” last June 21.

Singco ordered the shipping company to pay Unabia’s heirs P6.240 million in compensatory damages for lost earnings, P100,000 for moral damages, P50,000 indemnity and another P50,000 for attorney’s fees and litigation cost.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Verna Unabia and her three children over the death of Ernesto, a seaman in an international ship earning $3,000 a month.

Singco, in her 19-page decision, said that Sulpicio Lines’ failure to take disciplinary action against the ship captain, Esrum Mahilum, who also figured in several sea mishaps prior to the Princess of the Orient tragedy, made the firm’s management liable for negligence.

Records of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) showed that the Princess of the Orient touched bottom at the entrance of North Harbor in Manila, sideswiped another container vessel and the engine room even caught fire while berthed at North Harbor, and the vessel was towed from Manila to Cebu then to Singapore for repairs and dry docking.

But, despite all these incidents, Sulpicio Lines retained Mahilum as the ship’s captain until the vessel sank.

The Board of Marine Inquiry that investigated the mishap found that the company lacked the initiative to discipline Mahilum.

“For failing on the part of the defendant to take disciplinary action against Capt. Mahilum relative to those incidents, and allowing him to retain his job, the defendant unnecessarily exposed the vessel and the passengers to the tragic mishap,” Singco said in her decision.

Singco cited investigation reports of the Marina that blamed Mahilum for his incompetence and negligence.

Mahilum, who remains missing until now, failed to supervise his officers and crew in the process of abandoning the ship.

According to the court, while it (Mahilum’s retention as skipper) did not cause the sinking, “such failure doubtless contributed materially to the loss of life.”

Singco said that Sulpicio Lines failed to overcome the presumption of fault or negligence that arises in cases of death or injuries to the passengers.

“Under Articles 2176 and 2180 of the Civil Code, owners and managers are responsible for damages caused by the negligence of a servant or an employee, the master or employer is presumed to be negligent either in the selection or in the supervision of that employee,” Singco said.

The judge added that such presumption may be overcome only by satisfactorily showing that the employer exercised the care and diligence of a good father in the selection and the supervision of its employees, as ruled by the Supreme Court in the case Pestaño vs. Sumayang.

Singco said that based on evidence presented by the complainant, Sulpicio Lines clearly failed to exercise due diligence in the supervision of its employees.

“Hence, the defendant (Sulpicio Lines) is liable for the death of the plaintiff’s husband,” the court ruled.

In awarding the damages to the complainant, the court computed it based on the victim’s gross annual earnings multiplied by the number of years he was supposed to be employed until his retirement. According to the wife, her husband was only 37 years old at the time of the incident, which means he still had 13 years before retirement as a seaman working on foreign vessels.

Seaman Unabia was earning $3,000 a month or P120,000 based on the P40:$1 exchange rate in 1998. Based on the court’s computation, Unabia would have earned P6.240 million until his age of retirement.

Unabia’s case is the first to be decided among the cases filed by other victims of the Princess of the Orient tragedy.

Another civil case is still pending before the RTC branch 23, which is reportedly due for judgment in August.

Unabia’s family is among the very few who refused to amicably settle their claims with the shipping company.

Among the passengers of the ill-fated ship that survived were Cebu City councilor Edgardo Labella and his wife and the late Colonel Napoleon Sesante, who died of cancer.

Labella and Sesante did not join the class suit that some of the victims’ heirs have filed against the shipping company. – Fred Languido/Freeman News Service

Quezon execs mull civil suit vs Sulpicio By Perseus Echeminada Friday, July 4, 2008

It’s now Quezon’s turn to threaten Sulpicio Lines with a legal case reportedly for the huge damage inflicted on the province’s livelihood by the sinking of the M/V Princess of the Stars.

“We are studying the option of filing a civil suit,” Quezon Gov. Dante Nantes told reporters at a news forum at Danarra Hotel in Quezon City yesterday.

The governor’s pronouncement came a day after Romblon officials announced plans to sue Sulpicio Lines for damages.

Nantes said the province’s fishing industry suffered heavily after the sinking because a health department ban on fishing in Romblon has caused a widespread aversion to fish among consumers.

The government earlier ordered a temporary ban on the consumption of fish caught in Romblon due to possible contamination of endosulfan, a container of which was in the cargo hold of the sunken ship.

Compounding the province’s woes, Nantes said, was its having to deal with corpses washed ashore, particularly in the coastal town of Mulanay.

“The fish scare is affecting the livelihood of the people,” he said. He said the province also lost more than a thousand fishing boats due to the onslaught of typhoon “Frank” (international codename Fengshen).

The governor stressed that fish harvested in Quezon waters – even if they fed on human flesh – are safe to eat.

He also assuaged fears of possible chemical contamination in Quezon’s waters.

“If the eyes (of fish) are red then the fish are exposed to certain chemicals,” he said.

Nantes said the site of the sinking is far from Quezon and that any spillage or chemical contamination would be evident in Sibuyan.

Princess of the Stars sank on June 21 off Sibuyan Island in Romblon while trying to seek shelter at the height of typhoon Frank. It was on its way to Cebu with more than 800 passengers and crew on board when tragedy struck. Only 57 were reported to have survived and hundreds more are missing.

Livelihood assistance

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap will propose to President Arroyo a P35-million livelihood assistance for some 1,500 fishermen affected by the fishing ban in San Fernando, Romblon.

Duque said at a press briefing that he had recently discussed the idea with Yap and that they agreed to propose it to Mrs. Arroyo.

He said the plan involves the distribution of P16,000 to every affected fisherman for three months or just about the time it will take for experts to refloat the sunken vessel.

Duque said they based the amount on the assumption that a fisherman normally harvests 10 to 15 kilos of fish daily which they sell for P40 to P50 per kilo.

But Duque said the proposed assistance program should not stop Sulpicio Lines from extending its own aid package to fishermen.

“Sulpicio Lines, as an expression of its corporate social responsibility, should actually approach the affected fisherfolk and see how it can mitigate the dilemma confronting these fishermen and the threat to their fishing industry,” Duque said.

The DOH will conduct daily tests on San Fernando waters until the ferry’s toxic cargo is retrieved.

Duque reiterated that fish sold in Metro Manila are safe for human consumption because they come from Palawan and not from Romblon.

Speedy help promised

Sulpicio Lines promised yesterday to fasttrack the release of compensation to the legal heirs of the victims in the ferry sinking.

In a statement read by lawyer Arthur Lim, the firm said that SLI would cut down the waiting period from one year to one week. “If we can deliver the check in one or two days’ time so much the better,” Lim said.

He added that they would no longer wait for the authorities to complete the retrieval of the bodies before they hand out the P200,000 check to each of the beneficiaries. If all the 724 victims were compensated, the SLI would be spending P144 million.

“SLI has decided to cast aside technicalities and waive the waiting period of one year within which missing passengers will be compensated,” the statement read. “There is no need to hire the services of a lawyer because the claims will be acted upon with dispatch and with a simple documentation as possible.”

Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos has admitted that Edgar Go, SLI senior first vice president, recently asked for his help in convincing the government not to ground the liner’s vessels.

“I went to Malacañang the other day (June 30) because of the request of the owner of Sulpicio Lines,” Pueblos said in an interview with Radio Veritas. He said Go requested him to make an appeal to Malacañang against the grounding of the firm’s vessels.

He said he relayed Go’s message to a Malacañang official whom he declined to name. The official, he said, responded “positively.” – With Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan, Mike Frialde