Vice President Manuel “Noli” De Castro called for the immediate suspension of passenger ships made of wooden hulls following two maritime tragedies on Christmas weekend.

Last December 24, the wooden-hulled motor banca Catalyn B collided with the steel-hulled fishing vessel Anatalya off Cavite. At least three were killed while 24 remain missing.

On December 26, the roll-on roll-off vessel Baleno 9 sank off Batangas province. At least six were confirmed dead, 73 have been rescued, while at least 44 are still missing.

“We have to consider that our country has the most challenge maritime in terms of geographic orientation,” De Castro said in his Saturday morning radio program Para Sayo Bayan.

De Castro also called for the investigation of Sta.Cruz Shipping Lines following reports that their crew has no identification cards.

The MV Torrijos of the Sta. Cruz Shipping Lines left the Talao-talao port in Lucena City around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, and was expected to dock at the Buyabod port at around 3:30 a.m., but ran aground about one nautical mile from the port past.

In addition, De Castro said altered second-hand ships should not be given permit to operate.

In Japan, De Castro pointed out that ferries that have reached 10 years of age were deemed unsafe and were sold off.

“In the Philippines, we buy these ships,” De Castro said.

These are used Roll-on, roll-off (or Ro-Ro) ships These vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trucks, trailers or buses that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels.

Ro-Ro vessels have built-in ramps which allow the cargo to be efficiently “rolled on” and “rolled off” the vessel when in port.

There are about 142 units of roro ships that are below 500 gross tons and an estimated 37 roro ships are above 500 gross tons. All of them, however, are already considered aging ships.

“We are talking here of human lives and it’s really crazy that for so many years, many traveling Filipinos have been cheating death while boarding these kinds of vessels,” De Castro said.

The Vice President also urged Pedro Ang, owner of Besta Shipping Lines, to cooperate in the investigation following reports that he cannot be contacted.

Also, Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said Saturday ship owners and operators, along with concerned government agencies, should always put extra effort to ensure the safety of all ship passengers since maritime transport is a must since the Philippines is an archipelagic country.

“This should be the number one thing that we must practice—extraordinary diligence. When you operate a ship, especially a passenger ship where many people are onboard, you must be extra careful because one simple mistake can put all lives inside that ship at stake,” Gordon said.

Last week’s investigation by his committee on the sinking of the MV Baleno-9 last Dec. 26 showed that more lives could have been saved, or the disaster could have been prevented altogether, if all the necessary preparations and precautions had been in place before the vessel left the port, he pointed out.

Gordon cited testimonies of some survivors and crew that the vehicles inside the MV Baleno-9, which is an old roll on-roll off (RORO) vessel bought from Japan, were not properly lashed.

Furthermore, some passengers did not go up to the passenger compartment of the ship, but instead, stayed inside their vehicles, he said.

“It is dangerous for people to stay inside their vehicles because they would not have access to life jackets and if something happens to the ship, it would be harder to rescue them from the vehicle and their car becomes their coffin,” Gordon said noting that there should also be warnings posted inside the vessel that passengers are not allowed to stay inside their vehicles.