1TAHANAN Partylist Rep. Nathaniel Oducado called on Congress to support bills that would improve maritime safety in the country following the sinking of the MV Trisha Kerstin 3 in Basilan in January.
Oducado said the incident is a “wake-up call.” ”Because of the lack of competition in shipping and transportation, suspensions — however warranted — hinder the flow of goods and transportation between and among islands in the Philippines,” Oducado said in a statement on Saturday.
The Department of Transportation has suspended the operations of the vessel’s operator, Aleson Shipping Lines, while safety audits and inspections are carried out by the Maritime Industry Authority and the Philippine Coast Guard.
”Other shipping companies have been permitted to operate on the routes where Aleson used to maintain sea transport services, but there is a clear lack of other operators who have the capital and capability to service many of the areas where Aleson is active,” Oducado added.
He stressed the need to invest in cargo and ferry operations so that domestic trade and transportation will not be held hostage by the suspension of a single company.
Oducado filed two bills related to the shipping and maritime industry: House Bill (HB) 2958, or the Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Development Bill, and HB 2957, or the Shipyard Industry Fiscal Incentives Bill. Both would support the shipbuilding and ship repair (SBSR) industry in the country.
Under HB 2958, the Departments of Trade and Industry, Science and Technology, and Labor and Employment, along with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, would be required to support research and development, and provide institutional support to the SBSR industry.
”Competition breeds innovation and motivates companies to deliver the best services for the lowest cost to commuters and shippers,” Oducado said. “The lack of competition breeds complacency and negligence from companies who operate alone in their areas and routes, and from regulators in charge of supposedly holding them to account.” HB 2957 would amend the country’s fiscal policy, incentivizing companies to invest in the SBSR industry. This includes exemptions from value-added tax and from taxes and duties on imported capital equipment and materials.
In a separate statement, Basilan Rep. Ustadz Yusop Alano pushed for a full, transparent and uncompromising investigation into the sinking of the Trisha Kerstin 3.
”Silence can no longer be mistaken for restraint. It is, unmistakably, a failure of duty,” Alano said. “Destruction came not from a storm, but from human failure allowed to repeat itself.”
