No better time than now

Over at Filipino Voices, Marck wrote:

To me, at least, now is not the time to go after the Sulpicio Lines owners, strap them to the stocks and pillory, and throw rotten tomatoes at them before they get hanged publicly for making the bingo. There will always be time for the scathing rage that comes from the indignation following a tragedy. There will always be time to accuse. I still believe in the inherent goodness of people to add up to donations, to help out in whatever way they can.

I disagree. There is no time like the present to beat Sulpicio Lines senseless and blast it out of the water for good.

Two reasons. First: if you wait until public outrage dies down, the movement to tear that murderous shipping line to shreds loses momentum. Without the unflattering attention of mainstream media, the regulators jump right back into bed with the regulated, and the ships of death sail on. I mean, even in the midst of this outrage, didn’t Sulpicio even have the chutzpah to say that it would continue to sell tickets despite a beaching order?

Second, there is no reason why the ‘scathing rage’ cannot be stoked while the gentler passions of charity and love are also being paid attention to. Being angry should not mean being rooted to one spot just churning out bad vibes. That lady who gave part of her NFA ration? Hell, she was prolly pissed as hell about Pag-Asa – if it weren’t for their crappy predictions, she’d be bringing home her full ration instead of having to share it with the poor bastards in the provinces. Because let’s face it: giving is never easy. That’s what makes the act of giving so heroic – you’re giving even if it bites you. Besides, it’s always irritating when the incompetence of other people cause an inconvenience in our own lives; doubly so when that incompetence – as in the case of Pag-Asa and Sulpicio – proves fatal.

So, the government – and everyone else who cares a damn about how things ought to be – should give succour with left hand and, with the right, bring down the almighty motherfucking hammer of god.

Filed under: musings, Fengshen, Frank, Princess of the Stars, Sulpicio Lines, Typhoon

101 Sons and Daughters

As always, how could we have been so not ready for the typhoon?

Over at Filipino Voices, at least some responsibility seems to fall at the PAG-ASA doorstep. Now i understand that the weather is unpredictable – I learned that much from the Sound of Music – but, as pointed out by the article I linked to, there was an easy way to narrow down the possibilities. In fact, the internet makes it almost criminal for the weather station not to have consulted other weather forecasters.

Because PAG-ASA didn’t seem to cover all its bases, the provinces were caught flat-footed, and it would seem that at least one province blew a major portion of its disaster preparedness money on a false alarm.

But I don’t think it’s all PAG-ASA’s fault. Especially when it comes to the Princess of the Stars. Although I believe the Coast Guard issued the proper warnings, I don’t think it’s off the hook. So, yeah, once the warning was issued to the vessel, it was the shipping lines’ call. The tragic thing for those dead – including 101 sons and daughters of Iloilo – is that the shipping line happened to be Sulpicio. That fact alone should have put the CG on alert.

It’s actually a source of amazement for me that Sulpicio is still plying the waters. Their safety record is so full of holes (pun intended) that their ships should have been beached by now.

In December 1987, some 4,341 people died when Dona Paz, an inter-island passenger ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro Island. Sadly it was not to be the last sea tragedy in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,107 islands.  In 1988, around 250 people died when Dona Marilyn, another passenger ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines, sank. On April 11, 2002, at least 30 people were killed when MV Maria Carmella, which was bound from the island-province of Masbate for Lucena City in Quezon province, caught fire.

And yet, these temporarily floating coffins are still allowed to carry people. And you better believe that those motherfuckers are loaded to the scuppers, prolly flouting all known over-loading rules in existence. In fairness, we don’t know yet if the Princess was overloaded. My bet is that it was. And when that happens, I’m gonna come back and smack the Coast Guard upside their heads.

Filed under: news, Fenshen, Frank, Iloilo, Princess of the Stars, Sulpicio Lines, Typhoon

Iloilo ang banua ko

Damn you, Frank.

Filed under: environment, weather, Fengshen, flood, Frank, Iloilo, Typhoon