Overloading mentality

Who is at fault when an upsized motorized banca capsizes in relatively calm weather off the coast of Ormoc and kills 61 people?

Should the captain be held responsible for whatever it was he did that led to the capsizing?

Should port officials and the coast guard be blamed for allowing what survivors say was more than 150 sacks of cement, rice and fertilizer to be loaded on the vessel?

Should we blame the government agency responsible for giving the boat's captain the license to pilot that vessel? If you come to think of it, if you use our experience with most of public transportation as a yardstick, it shouldn't be so hard to be responsible for a vehicle carrying so many souls in this country. Any Tom, Dick or Harry, no matter how literate or illiterate, can drive any jeepney, bus, tricycle, trisikad on our roads. All they need is a “professional” driver's license that can be obtained in any Land Transportation Office and from the way those vehicles are being driven on our roads, it is quite obvious that all they needed to know about getting one of those licenses to kill is the basic knowledge of the gas, brake and clutch pedals and no knowledge of the other duties and responsibilities of a “professional” driver.

If that is how it is with land vehicles then it wouldn't require a stretch of the imagination to assume that the requirements and training required to pilot informal maritime vessels (the boat equivalent of jeepneys) should be quite similar. Did the boat captain of that ill-fated vessel look and act like if his landlubbing equivalents, the jeepney drivers who can drive everyday in sandos, shorts and tsinelas without having to check the roadworthiness of their public utility vehicles before taking the road and without respect or regard for the rules of the road while doing their “job”?

How about the government agency responsible for determining and verifying the seaworthiness of the M/B Kim Nirvana-B? If one does exist, should we include it in the list of people and organizations responsible for the unnecessary loss of life? Reports say the Kim Nirvana-B was only months old. Would we find design drawings and as-built plans if we asked for those documents? Was the boat's design checked by some kind of engineer with a competency in marine vessel design? Who rated its capacity? Were seaworthiness tests and trials even conducted or did they just drop it into the water, watch it float and have some bureaucrat stamp his seal of approval on it?

I ask this because I'm comparing that boat that is being described as a big bangka can again be compared to the Jeepney, the king of the Philippine roads. We all know there are no rules in Jeepney design and fabrication. Everything is surplus and make-do. That is why nobody knows what kind of engines they have, if their brakes are properly sized for the loads they carry, if their control pedals or steering systems meet any sort of safety standard, or if the tires are balder than Mr. Clean's head. Nobody from any government agency knows if any of the tens of thousands of jeepneys ferrying millions of Filipinos every day have windshields made of safety glass, if there are even crumple zones designed to protect passengers, or if the ornamental horses and baubles in and on that particular national icon are actually hazardous to either the passengers or the other vehicle if that manifestation of a beloved national icon is involved in an accident. We have below-zero standards for safe and proper jeepney design so I'm betting we have zero standards for safe and proper bangka design and operation as well.

When it comes to overloading, was anybody surprised that the ill-fated boat was said to be overloaded? We live in a country that prides itself in its ability to overload. After all, isn't it more fun in the Philippines where you can ride on the roof of a jeepney, along with other passengers, livestock and produce as it casually careens over an unpaved mountain road? Do we not mind at all when tricycles bursting to the seams with schoolchildren hanging from almost every conceivable handhold and foothold plod along our highways before school and after dismissal time? Do our government officials not care when a family of 5 finds a way to cram themselves into a measly motorcycle? With a national mentality that is predisposed to overloading, why should we feign surprise and outrage when it turns out that an overloaded bangka sank?

We shouldn't be surprised when accidents happen and lives are lost as long as everything that seems to be owned by simple folk and is proudly pinoy made in our public transportation sector get exceptions. The ill-fated boat got away with ignoring the rules and guidelines that are supposed to make public transportation safer because that particular oversized bangka probably disguised itself as a water-jeepney so all the boring and anti-poor safety rules and regulations wouldn't apply to it anymore.

The M/B Kim Nirvana-B was treated like a jeepney by its owners, its captain, the government, and its customers and that's why it killed so many people when it sank and that is what will be the unfortunate future of public transportation in the Philippines if we continue ignoring the rules whenever it is convenient the way our leaders do to protect the ancient and outdated legacy of the jeepney.*

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