Wharf pile-ups ‘anticipated’; Jordan mayor scolds Marina, boat owners

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

The local government of Jordan, Guimaras said Tuesday it anticipated long lines at Jordan wharf due to the expiration last Dec 31, 2020 of the Certificates of Public Convenience (CPC) of wooden-hulled pump boats, which regularly travel to Iloilo City and vice-versa.

The CPC expiration was part of the national government’s Transport Modernization Program, as stipulated in Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2016-02 issued by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).

Marina is an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) primarily concerned with regulation of water-based transport.

The condition set for motor banca operators in Guimaras was to start using pump boats made of fiberglass or even steel.

This was in response to safety concerns which were primarily raised during the end of the Arroyo administration via Executive Order No. 909 on June 29, 2010.

As an effect of the expiration, trips between Iloilo City and Jordan were met by long queues of passengers on both sides. Some passengers were forced to board Roll-On-Roll-Off vessels which impose higher fares.

Fifty-two (52) wooden-hulled boats in Jordan stopped operating, where 26 boats regularly ply the Iloilo City-Jordan route daily. 10 additional boats are on standby should the number of passengers rise.

Jordan Motor Banca Cooperative (JMBC) president Fernando Enalpe said Saturday that they have been acquiring fiberglass-hulled trimaran boats in Navotas and Cebu.

The fabrication of the boats from Navotas and its logistics, according to Enalpe, were affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

 

The supplier in Cebu was allegedly a fraud and Enalpe revealed that they had “fled”.

 

MAYOR SCOLDS MARINA, BOAT OWNERS

In an interview with Aksyon Radyo Iloilo on Tuesday, Jordan Mayor Ruben Corpuz chided both the Marina and the shipowners for the situation.

Corpuz said that the municipal government had “calculated” and “accepted” the situation, given that they have no authority over the operation of motor bancas.

He added, however, that appeals to Marina to extend the franchises of wooden motorboats have “fallen on deaf ears”.

 

“Well, so far, we have accepted the situation. I have seen that the Marina will definitely not allow it. Way back [August 3, 2020] I have seen how they felt, that they don’t care. Even in the time when we appealed to return normal operations, there was none, how much more in the ending of the CPCs? We did our best. We believe we didn’t lack in following up with the Marina. In fact, the only thing we asked [Marina-6] Director [Jose] Vero is to allow three wooden-hulled boats to at least augment, but we got nothing. They were falling on deaf ears,” Corpuz said in the radio interview.

 

But he continued saying that he understood Marina Region 6 Director Jose Venancio Vero, and how his “hands may be tied” by the agency’s central office in Manila.

The mayor also hit the shipowners, saying that they were not listening to his warnings that incidents on pump boats may call for changes in their industry.

 

He called the shipowners “greedy” and “hard-headed.”

 

He cited the Aug 3, 2019 tragedy where three motor boats sank while plying the Iloilo Strait, resulting in 31 deaths.

 

“I have been telling the cooperative to fabricate fiberglass [boats] already. People are doing a ‘wait-and-see’. Everybody’s not doing it, and I have been telling them seven years or eight years ago. These people, they always think that it would still be okay. Even before the August 3 [2019] tragedy, I have been telling them to strengthen their safety capacity and their crew’s pump boat controls. I have also warned them that if there would be any incidents, the industry will be different. I wasn’t wrong,” Corpuz said.

 

He also said that he asked Iloilo City Lone District Rep Julienne Baronda to intercede with DOTr Secretary Arturo Tugade, but he said that he has not yet received any update.

 

“I also called Congresswoman [Julienne] Baronda on Sunday evening if she can talk to Secretary Tugade because I know they are close, and unfortunately until now, she hasn’t had any feedback. She promised on Sunday evening that she would call on Monday noon, but there’s nothing. I was expecting that there really was no positive [response],” the mayor said.

 

He said that they are already actively procuring newer fiberglass boats from Navotas with the JMBC via capitalization by its members and a credit line from the Landbank of the Philippines.

But these were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Navotas fabricator telling Corpuz that they could only make at most 6 fiberglass boats within three months.

He also advised residents and travelers to the city to “stay at home” if they have no essential travels, citing both the shortage off boats and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also added that if they really would like to travel quickly without waiting, they may travel via the RORO.