Fatal boat mishap in Rizal highlights weak enforcement of maritime, safety rules

MANILA, Philippines — The captain of the boat that sunk off the waters in Binangonan, Rizal bared before a Senate panel that he and other boat owners regularly sailed with more passengers than capacity by offering “grease money” to local Philippine Coast Guard members.

Boat makers of the sunken MB Aya Express also used a type of material that the government phased out in 2016 to prevent maritime tragedies and did not submit a blueprint of the vessel to the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) for approval prior to its construction, discussions at a Senate joint inquiry on Tuesday showed.

During the hearing by the Senate public services committee, the captain of MB Aya Express, Donald Anain, admitted that he gave what he called “pampangiti” or “pampadulas” (grease money) to the Binangonan chapter of the Philippine Coast Guard to allow him to operate the vessel without a license.

In July, the PCG admitted that the capsized vessel did not go through the pre-departure inspection required to ensure the safety of passengers onboard. Despite having a seating capacity of only 42, at least 65 passengers were onboard the boat, based on the PCG’s investigation.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo asked Anain how much “grease money” he offered to the PCG to allow him to sail without a signed captain’s license on July 27, the day the motorbanca capsized in Laguna Lake.

The captain said that he offered P100-worth of bananas and P50 cash for meryenda (snacks) to the inspector. He explained that this was done by other boat captains in the area as well.

“So goods in kind. Can it also be alcohol? Cigarettes?” Tulfo said in a mix of English and Filipino. Anain answered in the affirmative.  

Anain also said that even with the 65 passengers onboard the MB Aya Express, which could only carry 38 passengers (and four crew members), he would have incurred financial losses as each passenger pays P40 to P50 as fare. 

“So that means every day you sail while overloaded? You were already overloaded that time and yet you would not have made a profit,” Poe said in a mix of English and Filipino. 

“This is our livelihood,” Anain said.

Anain also said that they only sailed once a day thrice or four times a week as there are “several” boats in the area. A boat ride to Binangonan takes an hour.

Public services committee chairperson Sen. Grace Poe said that this could be the reason why the boat was overloaded. “Kaya pampangiti lang binibigay kasi marami naman. Kaya nagooverload kasi once a day lang lumalayag. Dapat magka route rationalization (That’s why small goods are offered because there are many boats. The boats only sail once a day, so that’s why the boat was overloaded. There should be a route rationalization).”

‘Most are backyard builders’

A representative of MARINA said during the hearing that most boat builders do it in their own “backyard.” Their operations, however, are still covered by safety regulations, one of which requires them to submit a blueprint for the approval of a naval architect.

“A MARINA naval architect should really supervise during the boat's construction. Our surveyor will assess if the approved plan is being accurately followed. This includes the design as well,” the MARINA representative said.

When Tulfo asked Anain whether he submit a blueprint for approval prior to constructing the MB Aya Express, the captain said he did not.

MARINA said during the hearing that it found a number of safety issues from the capsized boat. It found that the motorbanca was made of wooden hull material, which was phased out in 2016. 

The boat's "closed plastic side tarpaulins" also trapped the passengers, according to MARINA. Previous accounts of the incident found that strong winds and sudden tides made the boat tip over to one side.

In 2019, around 31 people were killed after three motorbancas made of wooden hulls capsized due to strong monsoon winds.

Another boat accident near Romblon last week involved the capsizing of another wooden-hulled vessel, which left one dead and nearly 100 in need of rescue.