CEBU CITY – Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama questioned Wednesday the decision to suspend the entire fleet of Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, saying it will hurt not only the company's workers but the local economy.
The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) "should be circumspect," the mayor said.
"They should only suspend units that are not undergoing repairs, and they have a record of that."
The governor appealed to Marina to reconsider, pointing out that the ship owners are supposed to be assured of due process under Republic Act 9295 or the Domestic Shipping Development Act, before any suspension can be ordered.
"These are passenger vessels that are plying set routes, so not only the workers of Tran-Asia will be severely affected…The riding public will be just as affected. So, we do appeal to Marina to consider the consequences again of this action, which I find rather drastic," Governor Garcia told reporters.
Marina's suspension order on the nine remaining Trans-Asia vessels came a day after its M/V Asia-Malaysia sank while sailing from Cebu to Iloilo last Sunday morning. Over 170 passengers and crew were rescued.
Fire
But a freak accident hit just as a Marina team began inspecting the fleet Wednesday in Cebu City.
While the Marina team was inspecting the M/V Trans-Asia 5, a fire broke out in a pile of cargo that was being unloaded from a nearby vessel, the Trans-Asia 2. The pile had rubber, carpets and corrugated roofing.
The flames were controlled in five minutes and the damage to property was less than P5,000, said Julian Sy Jr., Trans-Asia management representative and spokesman.
He said the fire began when a laborer, who was smoking in secret, tossed a cigarette butt that hit a pile of cargo.
“The cargo is not part of the vessel, so the vessel did not catch fire,” Sy said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Flordelito Ortiz, head of the Trans-Asia security and safety department, said the cargo came from Ozamiz City. Trans-Asia 2 was supposed to depart for Iloilo to replace the Asia-Malaysia, but was held at the Cebu port for inspection and audit.
Two vessels were already inspected and audited as of Wednesday by the Marina, in coordination with the Coast Guard, as ordered by Administrator Emerson Lorenzo. The Trans-Asia 2 and 3 have been checked.
Spill
Lawyer Jose Cabatingan, Marina-Central Visayas public information officer, said the inspection and audit team found some deficiencies and that Trans-Asia Shipping will get some time to fix these.
Of the fleet, the Asia Philippines is still drydocked, while Asia Japan is not operating. The Asia Pacific, a cargo vessel, arrived last night from Zamboanga City, and Asia China was still in Cagayan de Oro City Wednesday.
Cabatingan said that the joint inspection and audit team will submit their reports to Marina-Central Visayas Director Nannette Villamor-Dinopol, who will forward it to Administrator Lorenzo.
Meanwhile, Sy said that Trans-Asia has sent safety engineers to conduct suction of oil and fuel from inside the sunken M/V Asia Malaysia off Calabasa Island.
He said the oil spill that resulted from the sinking is “very manageable” and that the company has sent oil dispersants to protect the seawater in the vicinity.
In a news conference Wednesday, Mayor Rama said he will talk to the officials of Marina regarding the suspension, after he meets with ship owners in Cebu City.
In a separate interview, Governor Garcia said that Marina can inspect the fleet without necessarily suspending it.
"I fully support the outcry of our shipping operators," she added.
Rescue
Meanwhile, Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella commended the management of Cokaliong Shipping Lines led by its owner, Chester Cokaliong, for immediately responding to M/V Asia Malaysia's distress call last Sunday dawn.
Cokaliong Shipping's M/V Filipinas Cebu was the first vessel to reach the M/V Asia Malaysia and rescue 40 of its 107 passengers.
The remaining passengers and crew members were rescued by the crew of the motor tanker Fil-Visayas, which was bound for Bacolod, and some fishermen who were in the area.
"Not in any way discounting the efforts of local fishermen in Ajuy and Iloilo's Bantay Dagat, it is noteworthy that one of the rescuers is a Cebu City-based shipping liner, which is not only the sunken vessel's competitor-company, but also one recorded to have helped out similar situations in the past, rescuing passengers from sea ordeals," Labella said in a proposed resolution.
Labella, a survivor of the sinking of Sulpicio Lines' M/V Princess of the Orient in 1998, described Cokaliong as "a businessman with a heart."
