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CA affirms passenger transport ban on Sulpicio Lines
The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) that prohibited Sulpicio Lines, Inc. (SLI), owner of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, from transporting and carrying passengers.
In a resolution promulgated on June 6, the appeals court's 11th Division dismissed the shipping line's petition for review challenging MARINA's decision limiting its operations to cargo-only in 2015.
According to the CA through Associate Justice Pablito Perez, SLI—now named Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation—took the "wrong mode of review" by going directly to appellate court when it should have first exhausted administrative remedies by appealing before the Office of the President.
"SLI's failure to appeal to the Office of the President before filing the instant petition before this Court is a premature invocation of the Court's intervention, thus denies SLI a cause of action for judicial relief," the CA said.
"Direct recourse to this Court, when administrative remedies are still available for SLI, is a ground for the dismissal of the petition," it added.
Concurring in Perez's decision are CA Associate Justices Ramon M. Bato, Jr. and Ramon A. Cruz.
The case stemmed from the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars in the Sibuyan Sea off Romblon province in June 2008, at the height of Typhoon Frank. The ferry carried over 849 individuals, only 32 of whom survived the fatal capsize.
In the same year, the MARINA limited SLI's Certificate of Public Convenience on the following ships to cargo operations only: MV Sulpicio Express Dos, MV Sulpicio Express Tres, MV Sulpicio Express Siete, MV Sulpicio Container II, MV Sulpicio Container XIV, MV Span Asia 1, MV Span Asia 2, MV Span Asia 3, MV Span Asia 5, MV Span Asia 7, MV Span Asia 9, and other ships that may be added to the line's fleet. — BM, GMA News
