Aurora and the maritime tragedies in the Philippines

The film Aurora  won as 2nd best picture, best cinematography, best in visual effects,  best sound, best child performer for Phoebe Villamor in the   2018 Metro Manila Film Festival.

Anne Curtis is cast as Leana, a young woman who owns a small inn beside a gloomy beach. Visible from the shoreline is a passenger ship, named Aurora, that crashed onto sharp rocks weeks ago. Many aboard the ship were killed in this accident, and most of their bodies have not yet been recovered. Leana hopes to recover these bodies, not only for her peace of mind but also because a cash reward is waiting for her for every corpse that she finds ashore. Before long, Leana starts seeing apparitions of the dead around her inn

The film is lifted from the stories of ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a notoriously poor record for maritime safety.

            Two years ago, a Christmas maritime tragedy occurred  involving the sinking of  the M/V Starlite Atlantic last  December 26, 2016  off Tingloy, Batangas at the height of typhoon Nina. 

The M/V Starlite Atlantic had been pushed by strong winds into the shallow waters and ran upon the rocks. Sustaining multiple hull breaches the ro-ro suffered uncontrolled water ingress. Unable to maintain stability, the  M/V  Starlite Atlatnic capsized a short time later.

The M/V starlite Atlantic is a roll-on, roll-off ship (Ro-Ro) built in 1975. The ship, which sank at around 11 in the morning at the height of typhoon Nina had 33 people on board but only 14 were rescued while a lone fatali­ty identified as 21-year-old Lyka Banayal was recorded.

Out of the 18 crewmen remained missing,  11 were student-cadets taking their on-the-job training on-board the ill-fated ship.

18 persons remain missing, namely Susan Lacastales, Mark Manalo, Kenneth Jones Banguiso, Elberto Dela Cruz, Gerald Dennis Sab, Adolfo Manalo, Ronmark Hidal­go, Mark Anthony Gomez, Jaspher Andozo, Ronnyl Gargar, Joeven Cabrera, No­canor Calvez, Mochael Von­cent Vargas, Lester Vincent Quillan, Oscar Torregoza, Gaudencio Forcado and Jas­per Aguilar.

The Christ­mas tragedy is not an isolated incident. It was just a repeat of previous terrible sinkings in the country’s storm tossed seas.

The dead­liest maritime disaster in Philippine history, the sink­ing of the MV Doña Paz on Dec. 20, 1987 near Oriental Mindoro, where more than 4,300 passengers died.

On December 20, 1987, at 6:30 a.m.,  MV Doña Paz left from Tacloban City, Leyte, for the City of Manila, with a stopover at Catbalogan City, Samar. On December 20, 1987, at 10:30 p.m., the passenger vessel collided with a motor tanker, MT Vector, near Dumali Point between the provinces of Marinduque and Oriental Mindoro.

            The vessel's manifest only listed 1,493 passengers and a 53-member crew, but survivor accounts that the vessel was carrying more than 4,000 passengers.  The documented death reached  4,341The incident was the worst peacetime disaster and the worst in the 20th century, and the vessel was even named the Asia's Titanic.

 In 2008, MV Princess of the Stars capsized off Rom­blon amid the onslaught of Typhoon Frank, with only 48 survivors out of its 862 pas­sengers.

Often,  the government are called upon to ensure that all rules and regulations related to maritime safety should be implemented or enforced.

Unfortunately, the main problem really is that most shipping compa­nies disregard rules on mari­time and passenger safety be­cause they can easily get away with it .

Industry experts  say most of the vessels that serve the coun­try’s maritime routes are re­furbished ships from Japan with an average age of 30 to 40 years. These second hand refurbished vessels are $2-3 million cheaper than a brand new one.

As long as the government will not use its iron hands in policing the shipping companies, the maritime tragedies like M/V Dona Paz and M/V Starlite Atlantic will continue to happen.

The film Aurora will always  be a  reminder of the  agony of those left behind.

(Atty. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the  Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan  law offices. For comments, email info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786)

Termination of the POEA contract

The  employment of Filipino seafarers  is governed by the Standard Employment Contract (SEC) they sign  and  duly approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) every time they are rehired and their employment is terminated upon its completion. 

As a general rule, the employment of the seafarer shall cease when the seafarer completes his period of contractual service aboard the ship, signs-off from the ship and arrives at the point of hire. 

Similarly, a seafarer’s employment contract is terminated even before the contract expires as soon as he arrives at the point of hire for any of the following reasons:

1. When the seafarer signs-off and is disembarked for medical reasons or death 

2. When the seafarer signs-off due to shipwreck, ship’s sale, lay-up of ship, discontinuance of voyage or change of ship principal .

3. When the seafarer, in writing, voluntarily resigns and signs off prior to expiration of contract 

4. When the seafarer is discharged for just cause 

The POEA contract further explains the rules on the termination of the contract due to reasons Nos. 2 to 4. :

DUE TO VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION: 

A seafarer who requests for early termination of his contract shall be liable for his repatriation cost as well as the transportation cost of his replacement. The employer may, in case of compassionate grounds, assume the transportation cost of the seafarer’s replacement.

 DUE TO JUST CAUSE: 

When the seafarer is discharged for any just cause, the employer shall have the right to recover the costs of his replacement and repatriation from the seafarer’s wages and other earnings. Section 33 of the contract enumerates  twenty one (21) offenses which are considered valid grounds for dismissal. .He may be penalized by the master of the vessel with dismissal and be made to pay the cost of repatriation and his replacement. Additionally, an administrative complaint or disciplinary action against the seafarer may be filed before the  POEA, who,  after due investigation, may  impose penalties ranging from suspension  to  delisting, depending on the gravity of the offense and the frequency of the violation(s).

DUE TO SHIPWRECK AND SHIP’S FOUNDERING 

Where the ship is wrecked necessitating the termination of employment before the date indicated in the contract, the seafarer shall be entitled to earned wages, medical examination at employer’s expense to determine his fitness to work, repatriation at employer’s cost and one month basic wage as termination pay. In case of termination of employment of the seafarer before the expiration of the term of his contract due to shipwreck, actual or constructive total loss or foundering of the ship, the seafarer shall be entitled to earned wages, medical examination at employer’s expense to determine his fitness to work, repatriation at employer’s cost and one month basic wage as termination pay. 

DUE TO SALE OF SHIP, LAY-UP OR DISCONTINUANCE OF VOYAGE 

Where the ship is sold, laid up, or the voyage is discontinued necessitating the termination of employment before the date indicated in the Contract, the seafarer shall be entitled to earned wages, repatriation at employer’s cost and one (1) month basic wage as termination pay, unless arrangements have been made for the seafarer to join another ship belonging to the same principal to complete his contract in which case the seafarer shall be entitled to basic wages until the date of joining the other ship. 

DUE  TO  CHANGE OF PRINCIPAL 

A. Where there is a change of Principal of the ship necessitating the pre-termination of employment of the seafarer; the seafarer should be entitled to earned wages and repatriation at employer’s expense. He shall also be entitled to one (1) month basic pay as termination pay. 

B. In case arrangements have been made for the seafarer to directly join another ship of the same Principal to complete his contract, he shall only be entitled to basic wage from the date of his disembarkation from his former ship until the date of his joining the new ship. 

DUE TO UNSEAWORTHINESS 

A. If the ship is declared unseaworthy by a classification society, port state or flag state, the seafarer shall not be forced to sail with the ship. 

B. If the ship’s unseaworthiness necessitates the termination of employment before the date indicated in the Contract, the seafarer shall be entitled to earned wages, repatriation at cost to the employer and termination pay equivalent to one (1) month basic wage. 

 DUE TO REGULATION ¼, CONTROL PROCEDURES OF THE 1978 STCW CONVENTION, AS AMENDED If the seafarer is terminated and/or repatriated as a result of port state control procedures/actions in compliance with Regulation ¼ of the 1978 STCW Convention, as amended, his termination shall be considered valid. However, he shall be entitled to repatriation and earned wages and benefits only.