Feeble on sea mishaps/Memo for seniors, disabled

In the wake of three sea mishaps in two weeks involving the biggest shipping line, the government has done ... next to nothing.

It merely suspended for two weeks the captain of the ship that went adrift overnight dead-engine in open sea. The owner is left quietly to fix the fire damage and crushed hull of two other craft that figured in near-tragedies. Like in the past, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) could have grounded the entire fleet. Not this time. It's Holy Week, peak of the summer sailing season. Two million sea travelers are expected to crowd into the few available ferries to and from the provinces. Marina is hesitant to do anything drastic that would reduce the number of much-needed sea rides. Passengers are left to face disaster.

Marina head Marcial Amaro admits to being caught between the need to punish and to furnish shipping. He wears two hats, as regulator and developer of shipping. One cannot be both.

Sailing off the other weekend with one engine busted, a roll on-roll off vessel's other motor conked out in open sea. Two hundred-eighty two passengers and crew were endangered, and multimillion-peso perishable cargo wasted, by the master's false oath of the ship's seaworthiness. Only he likely would be sanctioned. The owner who possibly scrimped on dispatching an alternative craft or billet and feed the passengers will be let off the hook. Within the same day two weeks earlier, a ferry caught fire and another ran aground in Batangas, to the distress of hundreds other riders (see http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2017/04/05/1687756/rash-sea-mishaps-bares-bad-old-ways). In suspending the ships for two weeks, Amaro himself saw the utter feebleness. Over those two weeks the owner would have to repair the three ROROs anyway. "Marina's role is not to find culpability but to make shipping lines comply," Amaro says.

Thirteen regional offices have been told to inspect the shipping line's other vessels. How even a cursory check can be made by a mere 411 personnel, half of them unskilled casuals, is a puzzle even for Amaro. He is relying for help on the separate Coast Guard, itself undermanned and saddled with other tasks of ship and port security, and bay patrols.

Marina should compel shipping lines to modernize. In land transportation, buses over 15 years old forcibly are being phased out. What more ships that carry hundred times more people and cargo. Yet, many of the 3,000 or so ferries are as old as 50 years, made only of wood. The supposedly newer ones – the ROROs – are in their 30s. There have been only three brand-new additions before Amaro took office, and three in his past eight months. He expects ten more new craft within 2017. Still, that's a miniscule portion of the 200 or so ROROs.

The Transport department seems to be waiting for another disaster, like the 2008 shipwreck in which 700-plus perished, before it acts. And as in other past disasters that claimed thousands of lives, such action would last only as momentarily as the resulting public furor.

So passengers riding those rickety old floating coffins this summer can only pray: "Now I lay me down to sleep...”

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Government should inform senior citizens (SCs) and persons with disability (PWDs) of the correct prices applicable to them when a product or service being sold is on promo. Election lawyer Romy Macalintal wrote that to the Dept. of Trade and Industry in his newfound role as SC/PWD rights advocate:

"In many cases, they are not advised by stores that they can choose between the DTI-approved promo discount, and the 20-percent discount with 12-percent VAT exemption, whichever is favorable to them under the law. Instead, they wrongly are told by the store, 'Wala na pong Senior o PWD discount kasi naka-promo na kami.'

“To prevent these, DTI should require establishments applying for permits for promotional discount specifically to state on their promo materials both the DTI-approved discounted price and that for SCs/PWDs. If the ‘promo’ is in-store or not registered with DTI, the SC/PWD is still entitled to the 12-percent VAT exemption and 20-percent discount over and above the promo price.

“But whether the promo is DTI-approved or not, it should still be the obligation of the establishment to clearly state on its promo materials the correct price computation, for SCs/PWDs, for them to determine which price is more favorable to them.”

Macalintal gives an example:

• If an item is sold at regular price of P100, the SC/PWD can get it for P70.40 only (P100 less P12 VAT = P88, less P17.60 SC/PWD discount = P70.40).

• If same item is on DTI-approved promo for, say, P90, the promo materials shall show: "P90 promo price" and “P70.40 for SCs/PWDs." Here, P70.40 with SC/PWD discounts is more favorable than the P90 DTI-approved promo price.

• If same item is sold on promo for P90 without approval by the DTI, the SC/PWD shall still be entitled to their discounts over and above the P90 promo price and so pay P63.36: (P90 less P10.80 VAT = P79.20, less P15.84 SC/PWD discount = P63.36). Thus, the promo materials should show P90 promo price, and P63.36 for SCs/PWDs. Here, P63.36 with SC/PWD discounts is more favorable to them than the P90 in-store promo price not approved by DTI.

Macalintal is proposing to raise a fund for SC/PWD rights protection. Source would be the waived discounts of well-to-do SCs/PWDs. Here, the most senior-friendly outlets – like McDonald's. J.Co, and SM cinemas – can help.

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