MARINA lifts motorbancas’ suspension in Iloilo-Guimaras route

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MANILA—The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) on Tuesday lifted the suspension order on the sailing of wooden-hulled motorbancas plying the Iloilo-Guimaras route to address the stranding of passengers in the affected ports.

Newly appointed Director Jose Venancio Vero Jr., regional director of MARINA Regional Office VI (Western Visayas), signed the memorandum dated Aug. 13, 2019, ordering the temporary lifting of the suspension.

“Upon the directive of the Officer-in-Charge, MARINA and in order to address the stranding of passengers in Guimaras, the suspension of operation of passenger bancas in the Guimaras to Iloilo and vice versa route is hereby temporarily lifted,” the memorandum reads.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Assistant Secretary for Communications Goddes Hope Libiran said the order was based on the directive of DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.

“Upon the directive of Secretary Tugade, MARINA recently ordered the temporary lifting of the suspension,” Libiran said in a message sent to reporters.

The lifting of the suspension came with the following conditions:

Passengers should wear life jackets at all times throughout the voyage;

Motorbancas shall carry passengers up to 75% of their authorized capacity only;

The tarpaulins/canvas shall either be rolled-up or removed;

The operation of motorbancas shall be during fair weather only. Wind not more than Force 3 of the Beaufort scale (7-10 knots) and the wave height is not more than 0.5 meters; and

The operation will be from sunrise to sunset only.

The motorbancas shall be equipped with distress signals/equipment.

To date, three Roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels from FF Cruz Shipping Corp. and Montenegro Shipping Lines, Inc., plus two fast crafts from Oceanjet Shipping and Philippine Fast Ferries Corp., are operating the Iloilo to Jordan, Guimaras route, which will be augmented by the lifting of the suspension on passenger bancas.

To further increase transportation services available to passengers in the region, Atlantic Johan Express Corp. intends to send out three more passenger ships—two to be deployed in the Iloilo to Jordan, Guimaras route and one in the Iloilo to Buenavista, Guimaras route.

SRN Fast Seacrafts, Inc. on Monday also volunteered to deploy one of their ships to ply the Iloilo-Buenavista, Guimaras route.

On August 3, three wooden-hulled passenger bancas sank in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait due to inclement weather, which cost the lives of 31 people.

Four days after the incident, a total of six officials from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and MARINA were relieved from their posts to pave the way for an impartial investigation into the maritime tragedy.