Captain of Sulpicio cargo ship in Cebu sea mishap castigated in Senate probe

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and family members of victims of the deadly sea accident off Cebu last August castigated the captain of the Sulpicio Lines vessel involved in the incident during a Senate probe Monday.

 

Trillanes and the victims' kin particularly questioned why Captain Rolito Gilo of the cargo ship MV Sulpicio Express Siete – which collided with the passenger Ship MV St. Thomas Aquinas last August 16 – has not been suspended even after the tragedy.
 

"Dapat hindi ka na bumabyahe. Very basic na corporate responsibility, hindi magawa," Trillanes told Gilo during the Senate inquiry.

 

Eliver Panuñal, whose wife and daughter remain missing due to the sea mishap, meanwhile, said the government should immediately cancel the franchise of Sulpicio Lines.

 

"Dapat iyang kapitan na iyan hindi na bumabyahe. 'Yang Sulpico, panlima na nila. Dapat mawalan na sila ng prangkisa. Hahayaan pa ba natin na marami pang mabuwis na buhay?" Panuñal said.

 

At least 80 people were reported dead and 40 others remain missing due to the sea mishap as of August 23, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

For his part, lawyer Jimmy Vibal, Gilo's counsel, explained that his client has not been suspended because the captain "is attending to the repair of the vehicle."

 

"Once the repair is completed, action will be taken against him [Gilo], although at present time, we believe he is not negligent," Vibal said.

 

But Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena, commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), said that based on their initial findings on the Cebu sea mishap, Gilo's vessel was in the wrong lane when the collision happened.

 

"The presence of Sulpicio Express Siete along the inbound lane initiated a confusion, meaning, nasa wrong lane iyong Sulpicio Express Siete," Isorena said during the Senate inquiry. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News