Appellate court exonerates Caltex in Doña Paz disaster

UNITED STATES oil retailer Caltex (Philippines) Inc. was absolved of liability Thursday by the Philippines' appellate court for the world's worst peacetime marine disaster in 1987, court officials said.

The court upheld a 1997 lower court ruling that dismissed claims against the company by the operators of the Doña Paz ferry.

The ferry had been rammed in the dark by the Vector, a small oil tanker chartered by Caltex. It sank with the loss of about 3,000 lives off the central island of Mindoro a few days before Christmas in 1987.

Court of Appeals associate justice Rodrigo Cosico's ruling excluded Caltex from liability for compensating the victims' heirs.

The suit was filed by Sulpicio Lines and its insurer, Prudential Guarantee Insurance, against the Vector's operators and its charterer.

Cosico wrote in his ruling that it was settled in Philippine jurisprudence that the charterer of a ship only has "the right to indicate the ports or places at which the vessel shall

call or enter but ... has no jurisdiction or control over the acts of the captain."

The charterer "is not liable for damages by the negligence of the latter in handling the ship," the judge added.

Caltex had chartered Vector Shipping to deliver gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other flammable oil products to various depots south of Manila.

Caltex had "no obligation to, nor is it in a position, to determine the seaworthiness of the vessel it employs," the judge said.

Sulpicio Lines had blamed the Vector and Caltex for the fiery sinking of both vessels, alleging that the tanker lacked navigational sidelights and was grossly unseaworthy and that its master lacked a chief mate's license.

Sulpicio Lines has received 25 million pesos in insurance payments from Prudential representing part of the lost value of the sunken carrier.

It has since filed for damages against Vector Shipping and Caltex to indemnify itself for cargo and passenger claims it had already paid out.

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?in...&story_id=63462

If he's a master, he should have a Master's license.

This wrong practices is now being covered by the ISM and handled by MARINA. Checking ships of their seaworthiness. Nowadays, charterers such as Caltex conducts their own vettings of ships they are chartering/hiring. Hopefully MARINA and the PCG are doing their jobs to prevent such world's worst disaster from happening again in our country.

After this 1987 Dona Paz/Vector tragedy, I talked to a seasoned maritime captain. He suspected that the crews of both ships were either drunk and/or asleep since it was just after Christmas.

It would have taken only one awake crew member of either ship to sound out a warning and either ship could have taken the necessary evasive action. The sinking happened in December so the sea was calm and you could spot either ship miles away.

The bottom line was that it was the fault of both ships. What made it so tragic was that Dona Paz was overloaded with 3,000 to 4,000 souls while Vector was carrying petroleum products, probably the worst combination you can think of. Kahit na kung hindi ka lulubog kasama ang barko, lulutang ka sa isang dagat na umaapoy! :headbang:

Mas mabuti pa sana kung parehong passenger ferry ang kabanga ng Dona Paz. At least, yung mga hindi malulunog ay may pag-asang lumangoy at ma-rescue.

This also points to our unfortunate Pinoy traits of bahala na and walang pakialam. The captain lamented that it was a common and illegal practice for a boat to sail without a single crew member or officer on deck during night time kasi masarap matulog sa gabi lalo na kung naka-inom. :headbang:

I agree with the judgment. Caltex is not at fault since they are not in the shipping business. The tragedy was purely the fault of Sulpicio Lines and the Vector's operators.