Was it fate that carried a 24,000 ton ship handicapped by engine malfunction, to clash with a 120 mph typhoon aided by walls of waves and enveloping darkness, in a contest so lopsided and an outcome so predictable? Or was there criminal neglect? The hapless ship was lashed by powerful winds on its left side, then slammed by giant waves from the right, causing the vessel to sway uncontrollably in any direction the wind or the waves would lead it. It no longer had command of its journey, and it had meekly conceded its destiny. It ceased to protect its passengers beneath and left them at the mercy of the fates.
Inside, 800 passengers and crew members wrapped in fear and panic, screamed in horror as they stampeded toward the exits leading to the deck. About a hundred were able to jump or be thrown overboard by the combined forces of nature. The ship keeled over within 15 minutes, it was over for the MV Princess of the Stars. But not for the estimated 700 passengers trapped inside the overturned vessel. After more than 15 horrifying minutes of grappling with terror, hysteria, and insanity amidst chaos and confusion, they have to contend with seeing their loved ones, some their entire families, die slowly from drowning. The pain of this vision and their helplessness at preventing it, is the last image they see as they gasp for their last breath of life. This pain is etched permanently on their lifeless faces as they are retrieved from underneath their temporary tombs.
Typhoon Frank ( International code: Fengshen) was plotted by the Philippines weather administration(PAGASA) to move northward as other's did, and it gave warnings about the impact on areas affected. But the typhoon was so erratic it veered west, cutting through several provinces and inducing damages running into millions of dollars, before going northward. This path placed it on a collision course with the MV Princess of the Stars. The Coast Guard allowed the ship to leave because the path plotted was not in the typhoons forecast direction, and its size and tonnage can take a signal # 1 impact capably. The vessel owners have released the inspection certificates and safety standards documentation that were issued by the government, to show compliance with all safety requirements of the ship.
PAGASA cannot be faulted for the erratic behavior which it also warned the public about; the Coast Guard cannot be faulted for letting the ship sail based on the weather conditions, path, and ship's size; and the ship owners cannot be faulted for using decrepit vessels for commercial purposes. It seems only the passengers were at fault, for insisting to sail on that fateful day. For a country that experiences an average of 20 typhoons a year and a long history of shipping disasters, it has mastered the art of dealing with rescue and relief operations for flooded areas, as well as the angry soundbytes and saber rattling statements from politicians about deaths at sea.
Passengers who patronize inter-island vessels belong to the poorer inhabitants of the country's provinces. The greedy rich who own these vessels do not dare ride on these ships, but they will offer sympathy and a measly $5,500 dollars to the families of those who perished. It is not even on a per individual death, but a fixed amount to the famil
y of those who lost entire families. The media will continue to air grievances of victims' relatives for as long as viewership is high and newspaper sales rise; politicians will speak with anger against those in control and grieve with the relatives, to generate name recall and gather votes - while getting "donations" from the shipping companies for their campaigns; the rich and powerful will continue to provide "services" to the poor using the minimum safety standards and requirements they themselves dictated to the concerned government agencies.
It may be true that this tragedy did not have the hand of criminal neglect splashed all over its pages. But it cannot erase the doubt
in the minds of the relatives about the connivance for cover ups that were so blatant in past incidents - whose investigations and coverage diminished in intensity as public interest waned - leaving the poor to negotiate for meager benefits. In the end, it is always the marginalized who are marginalized further, decimated in huge numbers by the greedy rich who live on their sweat, and by the politicians who benefit from these scams.
Or perhaps it is their method of giving gratitude, by sending them to their deaths to end their agony and miserable lives.
Haaaarrrrwwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!
PAGASA cannot be faulted for the erratic behavior which it also warned the public about; the Coast Guard cannot be faulted for letting the ship sail based on the weather conditions, path, and ship's size; and the ship owners cannot be faulted for using decrepit vessels for commercial purposes. It seems only the passengers were at fault, for insisting to sail on that fateful day. For a country that experiences an average of 20 typhoons a year and a long history of shipping disasters, it has mastered the art of dealing with rescue and relief operations for flooded areas, as well as the angry soundbytes and saber rattling statements from politicians about deaths at sea.Passengers who patronize inter-island vessels belong to the poorer inhabitants of the country's provinces. The greedy rich who own these vessels do not dare ride on these ships, but they will offer sympathy and a measly $5,500 dollars to the families of those who perished. It is not even on a per individual death, but a fixed amount to the famil
y of those who lost entire families. The media will continue to air grievances of victims' relatives for as long as viewership is high and newspaper sales rise; politicians will speak with anger against those in control and grieve with the relatives, to generate name recall and gather votes - while getting "donations" from the shipping companies for their campaigns; the rich and powerful will continue to provide "services" to the poor using the minimum safety standards and requirements they themselves dictated to the concerned government agencies.It may be true that this tragedy did not have the hand of criminal neglect splashed all over its pages. But it cannot erase the doubt
in the minds of the relatives about the connivance for cover ups that were so blatant in past incidents - whose investigations and coverage diminished in intensity as public interest waned - leaving the poor to negotiate for meager benefits. In the end, it is always the marginalized who are marginalized further, decimated in huge numbers by the greedy rich who live on their sweat, and by the politicians who benefit from these scams.Or perhaps it is their method of giving gratitude, by sending them to their deaths to end their agony and miserable lives.
Haaaarrrrwwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!
