Open Letter to Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
If you are reading this open letter, you might already be embarked on your official visit to the United States. I am writing about the tragedy that befell the Sulpicio Lines MV Princess of the Stars that really got to your gut.
Sulpicio and the Philippine Coast Guard now both look bad in the eyes of the families of the missing passengers. And that is the least of your worries. Both to the public and the international audience you will be facing during your travels, you will be the primary culprit by way of command responsibility.
Therefore it is correct to be really concerned about the situation. I shall not venture to offer any unsolicited proposals but for your information, the Republic of the Philippines’ Tenth (10th) Congress had already enacted a law on the establishment of a unified transport safety agency (a combination of the proposal bills for a maritime safety board, air transport safety board, etc.)
The consolidated bills were finally legislated into Act Creating the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) series of 1997.
Why the Transport Safety Board Law was never implemented must be because of many factors, among them certainly would have been money.
I remember clearly however, that a lot of both public and private funders have already been committed as early as 1995-1996 during our earlier advocacy for Philippine safety to provide as much as US$50-Million for various concerns affecting safety!
And this was only the initial leg of their commitments. It is also further noted herein, that since the Air Transport Office (ATO) privatization bill has already passed into law, another of our advocacies of being able to collect international standard rates for users’ charges for flyovers, landings, passenger (and cargo) arrivals and departures, will now be realized.
So Dear Madam President, money is not an object. There is enough money to go around with once the NTSB is made operational. Furthermore, at the onset, it does not need to have its own staff. It can initially be staffed by people already in government’s employ.
The final decision on this and all other concerns to address the recent tragedy is yours to make.
