SUPERFERRY 9 - WHEN ARE WE GOING TO LEARN OUR LESSON?

By: Capt. Alvils

In the morning of June 21, 2008, the world was stunned by the sinking of 23,820 tons, “Princess of Stars”, the largest passenger ship in the country, when she was caught at the height of the fury of typhoon “Frank”. More than 200 people died and about 600 others remained missing up to this day.

A few days ago, a tragic event in domestic shipping would again hit the headlines of major newspapers. Another passenger ferry, the 7,280 tons Superferry 9, sunk but this time in moderate weather conditions.

Ironically, after several days of news coverage, the media would stop writing about the accident. They find politics and the forthcoming national elections a more sensational story than the sea tragedy. Perhaps, they got tired of reporting about sea disasters in Philippine waters as it seems to have become a common occurrence in the country. Nevertheless, let us recall that event and analyze what might have gone wrong with the ill-fated ferry.

Superferry 9 left the southern port city of General Santos on Saturday, 5th of September, and was to arrive in Iloilo the following day, Sunday, before it got into trouble.

In the early morning hours of September 06, 2009, the ferry started listing heavily to starboard side. The crew, in their efforts to calm the panicking passengers, said it was normal (perhaps they’ve experienced similar conditions in the past). But by day break, the vessel listed more to starboard side, where it finally capsized and sunk 9 miles off the coast of Zamboanga Del Norte.

While several hundred passengers were rescued by responding coastguard, commercial and fishing vessels, 10 people perished and about 30 others are missing,

The cause of the tragedy was not clear. There were rumors that the vessel listed to one side because of a hole on the hull. Definitely, a vessel will heel as soon as sea water enters her compartment. But the laws of stability tells us that ingresses of seawater alone won’t be enough to capsize her.

Modern vessels are now constructed to have several bottom tanks, completely separated, segregated and independent with its other. So much so that, when the hull is punctured, only the compartment adjacent to the damage side will be flooded, not the other compartments or the entire vessel. I’ve seen one vessel in Japan Sea with severely damage hull as a result of collision with another freighter. She safely reached port, listing to one side, and went straight to the repair yard.

Therefore, there must be other factors that might have caused her to overturn. It cannot be the shifting of unlashed cargoes to one side (passengers heard loud crashing of weights near their cabins) nor the flooding of compartments, it can only be the LOSS OF HER STABILITY.

At the start of investigation, Capt. Jose Yap, the Master of the hapless ferry, told the probe team of the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) that strong winds of up to 10 knots may have caused his vessel to capsize. I find his story totally unbelievable, incredible and ridiculous. It was as if he was talking to people who have never been to sea before.

The photo below is an example of Force 3 sea condition (max winds 10 knots). You can see that the height of waves can be safe enough even for a small wooden boat to travel.

Capt. Jose Yap continues to explain that he noticed the vessel was slightly listing to port side several hours after departing the port of General Santos.

According to the laws of stability, a ship may develop a list for only two reasons –

a.) If the center of gravity is out of the centerline of the ship (caused by improper distribution of cargoes or when ballast tanks have uneven content);
b.) If the ship has a negative GM

Between the two conditions, (b) is most dangerous as it can spell disaster for a vessel.

Obviously, the Master was unaware of the stability condition of his vessel at the time of tragedy. He was desperately trying to correct the list and upright the vessel by filling up ballast water into its heeling tanks, not knowing that if his ship is already on a negative GM, the resulting free surface effects (the movement of water from side to side inside the tank) would worsen the vessel's condition as it would further increase the negativity of its GM.

Since time immemorial, Stability in domestic shipping has always been taken for granted. In fact, most of time, it is being ignored by people manning the vessel. Yet, stability continues to be one of the major cause of shipping disasters in our country.

Actually, the lists, sea conditions, entry of seawater or shifting of weights are just some of the aggravating factors but they’re not really the cause why vessels capsize. I will try to explain, as simple as possible, for the reader to understand how a ship can turn over regardless of any kind of weather conditions.

Gravity and Buoyancy are two kinds of forces that influence a floating object. The former pulls the object closer to the mass of the earth (sinks the object), the latter acts in reverse (upward force keeping an object afloat).

In normal condition, the center of gravity (CG) and center buoyancy (CB) is in line with each other, specifically at the center of the floating object, of which the position of the former is always higher than the latter.

The point or location of “Metacenter” (M) is of special interest to a cargo officer as it is precisely what is being calculated to form the basis for determining stability. At any instances, this should be higher than the center of gravity (CG).

The Metacentric Height (GM) is the height or distance of the Metacenter (M) from the center of gravity (CG) (see below diagram). How high or low is the M from G determines how stable a vessel is.

The term “Rolling Period” means the time taken by a ship to roll from one side to the other and back again. A large GM can cause a ship to be “stiff”, meaning she will have shorter rolling period. A small GM can cause a ship to be “tender”, meaning she will have longer rolling period. A negative (-) GM means the position of the center of gravity (CG) is higher than the Metacenter (M), Under this condition, you can forget about the rolling period as this can cause a vessel to capsize when heeled to one side by either internal or external forces.

A ship state of equilibrium determines whether, when she is tilted, she will right herself, remain as it is, or turn over (capsize).

A ship is said to be in “stable equilibrium” when, if she were inclined by external force, she would try to return to the upright position.

In “unstable equilibrium”, when inclined by external forces, she would try to heel still further until she capsizes (this is what happened to “Princess Of The Orient” and perhaps to “Superferry 9”).

The state of “stable equilibrium” is achieved when a vessel attains its ideal, positive GM (not too large, not too small). The drawing below explains how this occurs.

When heeled to one side by any kind of forces, the center of buoyancy (CB) moves downward and creates a righting lever (GZ). The lever pushes the vessel upright. How fast or late the upright action depends on the height of the metacenter. With negative (-) GM, there won’t be any righting lever at all. What you’ll get is a capsizing couple (inverted GZ lever)

The primary cause of a negative (-) GM is when a ship has more weights on top than at the bottom.

A prudent Master should calculate and know his vessel’s GM at any stage of the voyage. If he determines that it is getting smaller but couldn’t control the inflow of cargoes, he should correct this inadequacy by adding non-cargo weights at the bottom (filling up of ballast tanks, specifically double bottom tanks). The idea is to move G further to the bottom, thereby increasing its distance with M.

Care should be taken when taking in ballast water. Before a tank is fully loaded (top up), the stage when it is half-filled produces the greatest effect of “free surface”. It can further aggravate her already negative stability .In short, it will become worst before it gets better. So that, it is always advisable to touch the ballast tanks in port, prior to sailing, while the vessel is stationary. Filling up empty tanks with ballast water at sea, with negative GM, in adverse weather conditions, is tantamount to committing suicide.

Obviously, Superferry 9 was in the state of “unstable equilibrium” prior to her capsizing. What led her to this condition can perhaps be traced from the time she departed the port of General Santos city.

The above explanation may appear simple. But the calculations involve in determining GM is a bit tedious and complicated. However, with the present, modern computerization system, the procedure is simplified by installation of loading computers, designed and programmed for specific vessels.

What I have related so far are mostly the technical aspects of stability. Perhaps, these may already sound boring to some readers. But the emphasis here is that the people who regulate shipping, particularly PCG and MARINA, must be well knowledgeable on this subject. Considering that this is one of the major causes of shipping disasters, they should require Masters to demonstrate his vessel’s stability by presenting a GOM (corrected GM) calculation prior to sailing. Unfortunately, not too many coastwise-trading Master can perform the calculations since, they said, this is not required by port authorities. On the other hand, even if they do learn to calculate and the document will eventually be required before departure, none of the shore personnel of PCG or MARINA will understand the figures. The Master can present a computation of his income tax returns and they won’t know the difference.

During our last “Maritime forum”, the PCG representative (MARINA, the lead agency in maritime safety, did not show up) admitted that nobody checks the stability of the vessel before sailing. They usually rely only on the “Master’s Oath”.

“By signing and presenting this document”, The PCG official said, “the Master swore that his vessel is seaworthy and in stable condition”.

Common sense dictates that a mere piece of paper can not attest to the seaworthiness and stability of a vessel. If the port authorities will always believe whatever the Master says, just because he is “the one in command” and is “suppose to make sure that his vessel is safe”, then it is just like saying: ‘THE LIVES AND SAFETY OF PASSENGERS AND CREW ALWAYS REST WITH THE MASTER”. If this is the case, where does the culpability of the state come in? What is the use of inspecting the vessel before departure? Will mere inspection of documents, life-saving equipment and counting the number of passengers ensure the safety of the vessel? Expired documents, lack of safety and emergency equipment or overloading of passengers do not cause a vessel to sink. A negative stability does.

The biggest problem we have at the moment is the overlapping of function and responsibilities of people regulating domestic shipping. There are just two many government agencies taking part in the control and operations of domestic trading vessels. We have the DOTC, MARINA (under DOTC), PCG, PPA, PRC, MTC and sometimes the Maritime Police. We have a common saying that- “too many cooks spoils the broth”

But, whoever is the one in-charge, the people boarding and inspecting vessels should not leave “any stone unturned” in ensuring the vessel’s stability and seaworthiness. The following should be verified before sailing -

1) Proper distribution of containers and heavy cargoes,
2) Proper and adequate lashing of cargoes;
3) Adequate GM (in addition to GOM calculation sheets, check the condition of cargo holds and ballast tanks)
4) Vessel’s integrity (Inspect vessel’s hull, bulkheads and superstructures)

I am sure any one, or maybe all, of the above might have caused Superferry 9 to capsize.

There is now a move in the house of representative to create a “Maritime Safety Board”, something that I recommended some 4 or 5 years ago. The young and naïve congressman of Bataan had been sitting on my 12 pages manuscript for the same period now.

But even if a board is created to oversee maritime safety, but the person in-charge will just be another government appointee, it will only be “the same dog with new leash”.

To be fair with PCG, among all government agencies involved in domestic shipping, they are the ones who can most likely enforce maritime safety. However, before they can really be effective, their people must learn the following:

1) Trim and stability
2) Calculation of Metacentric Height (GOM)
3) Calculation of shearing force and bending moments
4) Free Surface effects
5) Meteorology and laws of storm.
6) Cargo Handling and care of cargo during the voyage
7) Safety and emergency procedures

Lately, the government of Australia issued an advisory to their citizens against traveling by passenger ferries if there are other means of transport available. They said our passenger ships are unsafe. PCG chief, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, disputed this statement saying our passenger ferries remains to be safe despite the occasional shipping accidents. But statistics don't lie. We still hold the record for the worst maritime disaster in the world (Sinking of Dona Paz). It remains unbroken up to this day. Unless corrective measures will be taken, our passenger ships will always be unsafe,

I don’t know about the people in the government, but I feel frustrated and embarrassed to the international shipping community that sea accident has become common in a country considered by the world as the major supplier of seafarers.

I’ve said time and again that the only way to stop sea disasters in our country is for our government to set politics aside and leave the industry to the shipping experts. These are the seasoned, experienced Master Mariners and Chief Marine Engineers, not the politicians who are appointed to their positions on the basis of not what they know but whom they know.

I hope the bright people in the DOTC, MARINA and PCG and our lawmakers will pause for a moment and think about what I wrote in this article.

Meantime, the question remains- When will these shipping tragedies stop? How many more lives will be lost? When are we going to learn our lesson?

++ END ++

THE GHOST OF THE GOLDEN TAKER

Paranormal and/or Supernatural is a term that describes unusual experiences or occurrences that defies human or scientific explanation. It is also the appearances of beings that exist beyond the realm of normal knowledge and forces of nature. People are always scared of witnessing a weird event like seeing the image of something or somebody whom we know does not exist in the living world. Ghost is one paranormal or supernatural being that can raise the hair of even the most gallant person on this planet.

There is a common saying that the only thing certain in life is death. Yet, for many of us, it is how to go over the period of transition between life and death and the uncertainty of what would happen next that made us fear death per ce. There is no known individual who came back from the dead to tell us what it’s like to live in the afterlife. The presence of a closed friend or relative standing before us days after accompanying him/her to his/her grave will most likely give us a heart attack. Fear would grip us even if we know that they are incapable of touching, much less hurting, us. Perhaps, our fear of spirits stemmed from the fact that their appearances remind us that we too will join their ranks someday.

We, Filipinos, characterized Ghosts as the returning soul or spirit of a departed. The most common belief is that they return to our world either to let us know of an unfinished business or to continue performing the work that they were tasked to do prior to their death until they realize that they are already dead and no longer belong to this world. Once they accept this reality, they will stop mingling with the living and travel to where they belong. Of course some individuals do not believe in Ghost. For them when a person dies its spirit merely shift to the next phase of life after death, whatever or wherever it is. On the other hand, some people do not even believe in the after life, much less the spirit of the dead. For them nothing follows after death. That a human being is just made up of flesh and blood or of water and matter. When it stops breathing it abandons life, decays and transforms into an organic substance. They consider Ghost as a form of hallucination. I use to have the same perception. But when you experience it yourself and hear the vivid account of people who had seen it too, it’s kind of difficult to accept that it is just a product of imagination.

My wife once related to me that on the third night of mourning, she saw her departed Aunt stooping down an old cabinet as if searching for something inside. The following morning they opened up the cupboard and discovered a bundle of cash, neatly tied-up with a rubber band, underneath the pile of old clothing. The discovery was most welcome by the family who were desperately trying to raise funds for the burial. Perhaps her aunt was so attached to the hidden notes that she could not bear to just leave it behind without putting it into good use.

Paranormal and/or supernatural beings are said to be living in a different dimension. Just like tuning in a specific radio frequency, you can’t see them unless your subconscious mind and spiritual being are synchronized with their wavelength. I was almost sure that my spiritual frequency is different from theirs until the day I join this tanker vessel.

My story happened long time ago onboard a crude oil tanker. I have opted to hide the real name of this vessel so as not to scare the present crew on board, although I doubt if the tanker still existed. Under the new IMO rules for building and upgrading of tankers, 25 years is too long to keep a tanker vessel serviceable. Nevertheless, Let me just name the vessel as “the golden tanker”. If any of my original crew happens to read this article, they would surely remember this ship and recall the frightening event that took place onboard. They too encountered the same experience that I had.

I also need to conceal the real name of the Ghost to protect the privacy and interest of his surviving family. Let me just call him as “Arman”. And he was my AB.

From Manila I flew over to Tokyo to receive my final briefing. From there, I took a plane to Dubai where the vessel was presently anchored. I first met Arman at Dubai airport. He arrived from a flight direct from Manila together with some of the crew. He was very courteous and friendly. As soon as our agent and transport arrive, he helped me load my luggage while his ship mates squeezes in their own belongings and scrambled to get the best seat at the back of the cramped van. I wasn’t sure if it was his nature to help people or maybe he was just doing it out of courtesy knowing that I was the highest-ranking Filipino officer on board.

A place was reserved for me at the front seat of the van. Since most of the crew was reluctant to sit beside me, Arman quickly occupied the space beside the driver, leaving the window seat for me. In broken English-Arabic accent our driver explained how he would transport us to the vessel. Along the way Arman was in a jolly mood and very talkative. He told me stories of how difficult it is to be spending a long vacation. Adding that his financial difficulties were aggravated by the delivery of the first baby.

“I had to plead the office to give me an early assignment, otherwise there would be no milk for the baby”, Arman laughed as he spoke.

Other than giving him advice to work diligently for the sake of the baby, I kept mum for the rest of the trip, contented with listening to his stories of heartaches and financial problems. My mind was actually traveling elsewhere. I was about to join the vessel as First Officer to replace the Chief Officer after the latter completes his contract. Despite years of training and practices of stability and cargo calculations, I wasn’t sure if I could meet the company’s expectation once I took over the duties as Chief Officer. I was experiencing the usual “promotion anxiety syndrome”, suffered by most newly promoted seafarer.

Onboard the vessel I met the Dutch Captain and the German Chief Officer. After handing over my sailing certificates and some company documents, a hand-over procedure took place. The following morning, the vessel received an order to set sail for Kharg Island and load a shipment of crude oil for Japan.

The usual practice onboard tankers with three watch keeping officers is for the First Officer to take the 4-8 watch while the Chief Officer went on day work. I was on the bridge at 1545 hours for my first sea watch when a smiling face came to greet me. It was Arman! He too was assigned to be on my watch.

For several months the vessel went on a liner oil trade from Kharg Island to Japan. While the route was becoming monotonous for most of us, the span of time allowed me to learn the character of each crew. While majority of the crew will only work when told, Arman turned out to be the most industrious man onboard. He seldom rest and sit down during working hours. Even on rainy days when deck work becomes impossible, he would always find work inside the accommodation, sometimes getting the ire of the Bosun who would rather wait for the weather to improve before resuming work on deck. During Sundays when ABs are required to stand watch, he would always find something to do on the bridge, wiping walls, scrubbing the floor or policing metals.

On our third voyage to Kharg Island, I was monitoring traffic by radar when an alarm sounded from the back of panel switchboard. Arman, who was standing outside the wing performing a lookout, entered the wheelhouse to check the origin of alarm.

“It’s the forward masthead light Sir”, Arman reported. “ Do you want me to replace the bulb now?”

“ No, just leave it. We’ll do it in the morning”, I said. There was no point replacing the busted bulb. It was still dark and the vessel will soon arrive port.

As the vessel approaches Kharg Island, I called up the engine room and rang the Captain.

“Capt., we’re almost there. I already gave one hour notice to the engine room”, I said.

“OK thanks, I’ll be up”, the Captain said.

The vessel dropped anchor at around 0600 hours, a stone throw away from the Kharg Island oil terminal. The Master was conversing over the VHF with the people from shore. He was told that loading would commence at 1000 hours. Pilot will be onboard at 0900 hours.

Anticipating a busy day, I went down the galley at 0730 hours to take an early breakfast, leaving Arman on the bridge. I was about to finish my meal when the 8-12 watch AB came rushing in the officer’s mess. The worried look in his face showed that something serious happened.

“Sir, Arman fell from the Masthead down to the main deck”, the AB reported.

I was momentarily shocked. I know why Arman went up the masthead pole, but I wasn’t expecting that he would climb it right after his watch. In fact, I was intending to inform the Chief Officer so he could assign the task of replacing the busted bulb to the Bosun. Obviously, Arman did it out of his own initiative, without the knowledge and assistance from anybody onboard.

I was one of the first man to arrive on the scene. Arman was on deck, laying on his back and unconscious. He was bleeding profusely from the ears, nose and mouth. He was wearing an old safety belt tied around his waist but the line attached to the hook parted from the middle. The hook was left hanging on the masthead handrail.

“Had I known that Arman will climb the Masthead pole, I would have given him a new set of safety belt, not the old and discarded one that he just picked up from somewhere”, the Bosun said, feeling remorse.

Arman was wearing a safety helmet when he fell. Yet, it failed to cushion his head from the impact of the fall. The masthead pole was just too high for any safety headgear to break a fall. Arman, a seasoned seafarer, is aware of the safe working practices on board. Yet, it was his eagerness to perform a task that made him overlooked the fundamental safety procedures on “working aloft”.

“Call the Captain, Chief Officer, get The Second Mate, get the stretcher”, I was hysterically shouting with trembling voice to all on-lookers.

The Captain and Chief Officer arrived on the scene and checked the condition of the patient. The Captain raised his head, looked me up in the face and said:

“Mate, lets ask for medical assistance ashore”.

I race to the bridge and called Kharg Island by VHF Channel 16. The guy on the other line asked for the nature of emergency, then told me to standby for the launch that would bring the medical team.

Arman was already in the ship’s hospital bed when a team of doctors and a lady nurse arrived. He was wearing an oxygen mask and an oxygen tank was beside him. He was in a comma and still bleeding profusely. The doctor gave him an injection and fitted a machine to monitor his heartbeat. The indicator showed that his pulse rate was rapidly dropping.

“Captain, this guy is suffering from massive head injuries. He may have brain concussion. We need to bring him ashore immediately”, the Doctor said.

Without waiting for the Captain to react, I burst out orders to prepare the stretcher and transport the patient to the waiting launch. The Bosun, 2 other seamen and I also jumped into the boat.

Onboard the sea craft, the two doctors and the lady nurse took turns in monitoring Arman’s heartbeat. The lead doctor, who was kneeling before the patient, stood up. shooked his head and whispered something to his colleague. Suddenly the lady nurse, who was also kneeling down, burst out a loud cry.

“I am sorry sir, really sorry. He’s gone”. She was literally crying as she spoke.

Then she covered Arman’s face with the ship’s woolen blanket. I kept removing the blanket from his face hoping that they made a mistake and Arman would soon recover his breathing. But the lady nurse kept putting it back on. The boat arrive shore and Arman was brought to the nearby army hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Moments later, the agent arrived, noted my report and explained to us how the body would be transported back to Manila.

We returned to the tanker a short while later bringing with us the sad news. There was a widespread feeling of grief and sorrow among the crew. Nobody wanted to talk about the accident. Everybody work to complete loading without uttering a single word. Even the German Chief Officer who used to shout and over-react at slightest mistakes was unusually quiet. He seemed to be contented watching the crew securing the vessel for sailing.

The vessel departed Kharg Island for Tokyo Bay that afternoon, at 1700 hours. Right after sailing, I gathered the crew and asked them to say a prayer for Arman. We all agreed to hold a prayer vigil at Arman’s cabin at 2000 hours or right after my watch.

At 2030 hours, half of the entire crew complement entered Armand’s cabin to pray the Rosary. The Bosun was not around. We were in the middle of the third mystery when Bosun came rushing in inside the cabin. There was a frightened look on his face.

“What happen to you Bosun”, I asked.

“Sorry I was late”, he said. “I forgot about the prayer vigil and fell asleep. I woke up when somebody pulled my right toe”.

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t recognize his face. My room was not well lighted. But I think it was Arman”, the Bosun said, breathing heavily and trembling with fear.

“How did you know that?” I was more inquisitive now.

“He was wearing a safety helmet and a safety belt was hanging around his waist”

A widespread fear and anxiety gripped the occupants of the room. Those standing in the corner move closer to the middle. One was about to leave the room but was discourage by the thought that he might meet Arman’s spirit along the alleyway.

“Let’s continue praying”, I said to everyone. “Since Bosun is late, we start again from the first mystery”.

We were at the end of the fifth mystery when the entire room was filled with the smell of burning candles. While everyone in the room smells the odor, no one spoke a word about it. We just look at each other’s face and continue praying the final “Hail Holy Queen” prayer.

There was difficulty vacating Armand’s cabin after the prayer vigil. Everybody wanted to leave the room first. Afraid of being left behind, they started pushing and shoving each other at the opening of the door.

That night, after Bosun related his experience and the incident inside Arman’s cabin, nobody wanted to sleep alone in their cabins. Even walking along the quiet alleyways became frightening. When one Oiler claimed that he saw somebody entered Arman’s cabin, everybody started moving around the vessel in group of twos. When it was time for bed, majority packed up their pillows and blankets and spread it along the floor of the crew’s recreation room. Some slept together in one room. Others decided to stay awake all night as a form of vigil but only in the crew’s mess, not in Arman’s cabin.

I would be lying if I will not admit that I too contemplated on requesting the cadet to sleep beside me inside my room. It was only my ego as their superior officer that helped me control my fear and slept alone in my cabin albeit with all the lights on.

Before retiring to bed, I notice that the captain’s cabin, located adjacent to my room, was also flooding with lights. I was wondering if he too was experiencing the same fear that we had.

That night I barely catch a sleep. I keep closing and opening my eyes to make sure that no unwanted visitor was inside my room. At 0340 hours, my phone rang. I thought maybe it was the 12-4 AB making a wake up call. I picked up the receiver but nobody answered. The phone rang for the second time. This time I heard a soft moaning from the other end of the line. Fear enveloped my entire body as I dropped the phone hand piece down on the floor.

“Was there somebody trying to frighten me or was it Arman wanting to communicate with me? I said to myself.

Moments later, I heard a knock on my door. I quickly opened the doorknob and saw the 12-4 watch AB.

“Sir, its 0345.” He said. “And I think you had your phone hanged up”

“How many times did you call me?” I asked.

“Only once, Sir. The line was busy so I decided to knock on your door”, The AB replied, still puzzled by my question.

My watch was completed without much incident. After breakfast, I went inside recreation hall to visit the crew. It was a Sunday. Everyone was in the hall, playing various games and watching Video. But, unlike the past Sundays of recreation activities, the crew was unusually quiet. It seems that nobody wanted to discuss the frightening experience of the Bosun and the night of the prayer vigil. AT 1100 hours, the mess man started preparing the table for lunch. He was setting the plates and utensils on the table when we suddenly heard a loud bursting of a drinking glass. We all went inside the mess hall and notice that the assigned table place for Armand was in disarray. Pieces of glass scattered around his table. The plate dropped on the floor together with the spoon and fork.

“What happened?” I asked the mess man.

“I don’t know, Sir”, he said. “ I was setting the table when suddenly the glass on Arman’s table exploded”

“Never mind” I said. “I would suggest not to put anything on Armand’s table for the meantime”.

Since it was almost lunchtime, majority of the crew were present when the breaking of glass occurred. They all felt the eerie presence of Armand, who when still living, never like anybody occupying his place on the table. Unlike most of the crew, he never transfers to any table to eat his meal except his own.

On the second night of Armand’s death, as usual I reported to the bridge at 1545 hours. There was not much happening that day. The sea was calm and there was very little traffic. At 1700 hours, the 3rd mate went up the bridge to relieve me for dinner. I returned an hour later and prepare the sextant and sight reduction tables for my star sight observation. After taking altitudes of stars I entered the chart room to calculate the vessel’s position. I was busy plotting my fix when my newly promoted AB entered the chart room. He seemed to be observing what I was doing.

“Don’t stay too long inside” I said. “There’s nobody on lookout”.

I was thinking that he went inside the chart room only out of curiosity. But despite my order to be on look out the AB remained standing close to me.

“What’s wrong with you?” “Can you not understand what I mean?” “stay out”, I said, this time feeling irritated by his stubbornness.

“Sir, I am afraid to go out. Somebody’s standing outside the starboard wing”, he said, visibly frightened by what he saw.

I immediately closed the chart room curtain, entered the wheelhouse and remained standing for a while to adjust my vision with the dark. Slowly, I approached the starboard sliding wing door and peep on the hardened glass. There, under the light of a full moon sky, I saw a silhouette of a man standing straight, facing the bow, at the extreme corner of the wing. He was wearing a safety helmet and a safety belt was hanging around his waist. It was difficult to distinguish his face from where I was standing. But No doubt, it was Arman performing a lookout.

His appearance was short-lived. He was gone after several blink of my eyes.

The AB was standing beside me again.

“Where is it? I don’t see anything out there”, I lied to relieve his fear.

The AB made a second look at the starboard wing and saw nothing.

That morning, I asked the Third and Second mates if they saw anything unusual on the bridge during their watches. When they said none, I realized that the Ghost of Armand only visit the bridge during the 4-8 watches. His assigned sea duties when he was still alive.

On our third day of sailing, Armand’s Ghost appeared for the last time. This time during my morning watch.

At 0500 hours, while I was calculating the time of morning twilight, my AB again entered the chart room and reported the presence of somebody inside the wheelhouse.

“Sir, there he is again, standing in the corner”, the AB reported with intense fear in his face.

I immediately switched off the chart room lights, waited for a while to adjust my vision with dark, Then entered the wheelhouse. There I saw a blurred figure of a man standing beside the engine telegraph, facing the bow. The dim moonlight sky reflecting inside the wheelhouse was enough to see that the visitor was wearing a cover-all and a safety helmet. His left arm resting on the engine telegraph, his right on the front board.

The hairs on my pore skin rose as a cold sweat of fear draped my entire body. I was about to leave the bridge but the thought that I might ruin my career just because of a ghost, plus the embarrassment of being the laughing stock onboard the vessel, gave me enough courage to confront the unwanted visitor. Instead of running away I reach for the panel board and flicked the light switch. As the entire wheelhouse illuminated, I saw that there was nobody there except me and my shivering AB.

Determine to end the haunting; I slowly approach the corner end of the wheelhouse, near the engine telegraph, where I last saw the dim vision. Suddenly I felt a cold mass of air passing through my skin pores.

“He’s here, I can feel it”, I said to my self.

“Arman, please don’t frighten us”. My voice and entire body was trembling, but I was now determined to face the intruder even if he appears before my eyes.

“We don’t know what you want. But you have to understand that like when you were with us, we are also trying to make a living here”

There was no answer.

“Like you, we also have our own family to feed”.

The tone of my voice was soft and low but my words seemed to have reverberated around the entire area of the wheelhouse.

I waited for something to happen but there was only eerie silence. Time passed and the entire wheelhouse remains calm and quiet. Nothing can be heard except the voices of bored watch keepers calling “Balut, balut”, over VHF 16, obviously inviting for chat mates.

As I move around the wheelhouse, still trying to feel the presence of the intruder, my frightened AB kept on following me where ever I go. Actually, I allowed him to tag along behind my back to lessen my fear. We kept the lights on until the twilight period. I took my star sights observation and completed my watch with out further incident.

After that last visit, Arman’s spirit never re-appear on the bridge or any area of the vessel again. The last lap of the voyage remained uneventful and free of disturbance.

On arrival Tokyo, I requested the “Flying Angel” chaplain to come onboard to celebrate mass, bless Arman’s cabin and the entire vessel. The crew welcomes the ceremony as the start of normalization of life on board.

Arman, even after his death, was a good and dedicated subordinate. He remained obedient to his superior up to the very end. Perhaps, my words made him realize that there was no need for him to stand watch on the bridge and that it was now time for him to leave and travel to his next destination.

After my tour of duty on that tanker, I went on leave and visited Arman’s wife and kid. The infant that Arman left behind has now grown to be a fine looking boy. Handsome, obedient and discipline, just like his father.

When I related to his wife the chilling story of Arman’s spirit visiting the vessel, I learned that Arman too visited his wife even before she knew about his death.

Arman has now closed the final chapter of his life. But, as far as his family, friends and colleague in the seafaring industry are concerned; his memories will long be remembered. Perhaps, by now his soul had already found peace.


-----END-----

SOMALI PIRATES

SOMALIAN PIRACY – HOW DOES IT AFFECT OUR LOCAL MANNING INDUSTRY?

Piracy in the shipping lanes off Somalia is nothing new. The pirate gangs didn't suddenly decide to attack vulnerable merchant ships. Their evolution happened over two decades because of several factors. First is that Somalia is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a totally ineffective and non-functioning central government. In a country without effective laws, lawlessness is not only tolerated, but often admired.

The country is currently totally in the grip of at least four powerful clans. Many based on family and religious extremism have been part of the Somali scene for generations. They operate with ruthless efficiency to control their fiefdoms, and murder and ransom have long been weapons they use to earn power and riches.

Since the early 1990s, there have been at least 14 failed Somali central governments. Political leaders who attempt to control the all-powerful clans have either invariably end up dead or must flee the country to avoid assassination.

Piracy in Somalia is a combination of the clan’s self-serving struggle to gain wealth and power and the legitimate desire to save the country’s fishing industry. It has taken its roots from tribal fishermen who, tired of being poor, abused, oppressed and subjugated, decided to take the law in their own hands to offset the present economic imbalance. The large, modern and highly-sophisticated fishing boats from Russia, Japan and other industrialized nations constantly encroached in the waters of Somalia and began to wipe out its entire populations of fish. Moreover, as the Somali pirate spokesmen claims, many foreign ships used their coast to dump garbage and highly toxic refuse, thereby speeding up the devastation process of marine life. Their activities were killing the traditional fishing industry of the already poverty-stricken Somalis.

In an attempt to protect its territory, some Somali fishermen organized into bands of raiders and boarded close-in fishing vessels and cargo ships. Armed with rifles, they held up the ship’s captain and demanded payments for the income loss their illegal fishing and waste dumping operations were causing the local fishermen.

It follows that the tributes paid by big fishing boats and cargo ships were so successful that the powerful clans decided to expand on the local fishermen’s idea of collecting money from the intruders.

Today, Piracy, particularly the collection of ransom payments, has become Somalia's most important industry, with reports that the gangs earned $150 million in 2008. And it still goes on, virtually unchecked by any organized opposition. More than 300 ships were attacked last year, with 20 still in pirate’s control, along with more than 300 hostages, all awaiting negotiations for ransom payments.

Meanwhile, for economic reasons, ship owners continue to encourage sailing of their ships through the Somalia coast and Gulf of Aden despite the great threat to security. The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia and Europe and one of the world’s busiest lanes, crossed by more than 20,000 ships each year. The alternative route around the continent’s southern Cape Of Good Hope (see inset map below) takes up to two weeks longer at huge expenses.

Likewise, because of insurance coverage and the relatively low cost of paying ransoms, plus the fact that the pirates rarely used overt force, ship owners cooperated. The taking of several hundred ships a year is a very small part of the 300,000 that pass along the entire coast of Africa. As long as less than one percent of ships are held for ransom, insurance companies consider this acceptable. Of course, with the rising tide of piracy, the premiums goes up along with the ransom demands, and shipping companies just raise prices to their customers for services.

Seizing ships became so prevalent in the early 2000s; the now well-organized and clan-led pirates didn't need to board some ships to get money. All they had to do was inform shipping companies that the pirates would allow their vessels to proceed if a tribute of several thousand dollars, later upped to millions, were paid. Until recently, when American and other navies became involved, even when captured, the pirates were usually set free in exchange for ship's crew hostages.

With millions of dollars coming into their control almost daily, the clans' pirate operations continued to grow in size by recruiting willing young Somalis, acquiring more sophisticated weapons and adding more speedboats to their fleet. They now use so-called mother ships, large vessels that can venture more distances out to sea and set the smaller motorboats off on missions of piracy far beyond Somali waters.

They've also established sanctuary ports along the coast of Africa where they keep captured ships and hundreds of hostages, all part of the Somali pirates' ongoing business of turning high profits at low risk.

A flotilla of NATO warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters. Their main objective is to neutralize the Somalian bandits and protect the flow of commercial shipping traffic. They have halted many attacks but the area is so vast they can't stop all

But how does this event affect our seafaring industry?

Sometime in April of this year, a Greek-owned bulk carrier, MV “Irene E.M.”, flagged in the Caribbean island country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was attacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia. In an unusual night time raid (attacks usually occurs at daytime), they seized the vessel and held hostage 22 Filipino crew. As of this writing (or almost 3 months later), the vessel is still at anchored off the so-called pirates sanctuary port, guarded by their captors, waiting for the US$ 2 million ransom that may never be paid.

Surprisingly, the Filipino master and his crew were allowed to communicate with their love ones, the ship owner and their manning agency in Ermita, Manila. Contrary to reports that they
are being fed and treated well by their captors, they related the unbearable living conditions onboard the vessel. They have run out of food supplies and have started drinking the water draining from their air conditioning unit to survive. Some crews are stricken ill and require medical attention.

Impatient by the inaction of the Philippine government and the manning agency, which keeps on saying that negotiations to release the hostages is still on-going, the families of the victims trooped to a radio station and sought assistance from the media. They feel that the Greek owner is buying time to reduce the ransom payment. Unfortunately, time is no longer on their side. Their captors have set a deadline for payment of ransom. After which, they would start chopping off the heads of the Filipino sailors. The families now fear they may never be able to see their loved ones again.

But what can our government really do about it?

Unlike the Americans and French who can deploy navy seals and Special Forces at short notice to free their own nationals, our army could not even protect its citizenry in its own backyard. In fact, it has failed, time and again, to put an end to the perennial bombings, hostage-taking activities and atrocities committed by Abu Sayaf and other terrorist groups? They cannot therefore be expected to rescue our seafarers from their captors. But don’t be wrong about it. We do have the well-trained, battle-tested marines that can launch a strike at the Somalia pirates anytime. What we do not have is “Political will”, “Guts”, “Motivation” and “Audacity” or PGMA.

Hostage-taking of Filipino seafarers is not something new. In fact, the government admitted that, at the onset of hostilities in Somalia, about a couple of hundreds of Filipino seafarers have already been taken hostage by Somali pirates. Some were released after payment of ransom by their respective ship owners, but 122 others are still held captive, waiting to be rescued. Perhaps, it is the most number of hostages by one single nationality. Considering that the Philippines is one of the world’s largest supplier of seafarers, we are the ones hardest hit by this escalation of violence.

As Filipino seamen hostage swelled in numbers in Somalia, the government remains clueless on how to provide protection to its 350,000 seafarers sailing to and from the dangerous waters of Somalia.

“What the government is doing right now is to continue to monitor the negotiations being done by the manning agencies with the pirates in Somalia. At the moment there are no planned nor contemplated strong action as what is being done by other countries to rescue their citizens”," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the guy with the flying eyebrow, who is also the namesake of the manning agency’s office location.

He said it with ease and confidence, oblivious of the fact that these seafarers, whom the government plans to abandon, are the same group of overseas workers they called the “unsung heroes”, whose dollar remittances has significantly contributed to the growth of our ailing economy.

Mr. Ermita also said the Philippine government is poised to recommend the enforcement of travel ban for Filipino seafarers in Somalia. Not knowing that banning Filipino seamen from certain risky regions is tantamount to preventing them from boarding vessels and practicing their trade as seamen. Ship owners cannot be selective of their charterers nor the origin and destination of their cargoes. The same way that ship owners cannot choose a longer route just because they have Filipino crew onboard. Hence, odds will be high that at one point of their contract, their vessels will transit the dangerous waters of Somalia and the Gulf Of Aden.

Critics say our Government has not done enough to secure the release of all Filipino hostages in Somalia and prevent their abduction. While other countries warned Somali pirates that they will retaliate if their own nationals are captured, saying that an attack to their own national is equivalent to an attack to their country, our POEA, DFA and law makers remained silent and complacent about the issue. It seems that this excerpt of our national anthem : “Aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi, ang mamatay ng dahil sayo”, no longer inspire people. Indeed, critics maybe right in saying that we are one of the most un-nationalistic, un-patriotic people in the world.

The United States is now considering new options to fight piracy, including adding navy gun ships along Somalia’s coast and launching a campaign to disable pirate “mother ships”. But until then, all we can do is watch on the sideline and pray hard that the Somali pirates would be kind enough to release unharmed our compatriots and that this nightmare for our Filipino seafarers would soon come to an end.



+++ END +++

FILIPINO PATRIOTS - AN EXTINCT BREED?

“Patriotism” is man’s noble endeavor to defend and protect its land of domicile, work for the betterment of its society and pursue a path of greatness. It is simply defined as love for ones country and its people.

Today, people (particularly those in the government) pretend to be patriots but none of them is even close to emulating one. With all the abuses, widespread graft and corruption, violation of human rights, avarice, greed and evil around us, the true essence of patriotism in our country is now lost to total oblivion. We see heroes and patriots only in our history books and war films. But we have yet to see a live one today. People nowadays are blinded by a common desire to just merely survive, protect their own interest and no longer care what happens to our country. In fact, some critics says our government is even trying to sell our country to China.

Let me tell you about the movie I’ve seen - the “Man of the Year”. It is an unusual story about patriotism. “Tom Dobbs” (portrayed by the actor Robin Williams), is the host of a comedy talk show, who mimics, imitates, ridicules and makes fun of politicians and their political agendas. His antics and clowning around provided laughter and amusement to so many people. He has captivated enough audience that his TV program went sky-rocketing on top of the rating’s list. His life changed one day when a fan asked him to run for president. He thought it was a great idea and decided to enter politics. Having led the nationwide surveys from all fronts, people, particularly his own turf and supporters, were convinced that he was a sure bet for the presidency?

In a move to modernize the forthcoming national election, the government subsidized a technological firm (Delacroy Company) to develop voting machines. A few days before election, Eleonor Green (played by Laura Linney), who works for Delacroy company, discovered a serious “Glitch” (program error) in the computer program that could alter the result of election. She tries to tell the company C.E.O. and other senior officials but was simply told to keep mum and forget what she found. The top management of Delacroy was unanimous in keeping the matter a secret. Announcing the “Glitch” at that point in time will be catastrophic for their business. But the lady computer expert will not be dissuaded. She was bothered by the thought that if she allows the election to continue, the result might not reflect the true will of the people. She was determined to report and explain her findings to anybody who would listen. It was at this point that she was abducted and drugged by goons hired by the computer company. Their purpose was to discredit and ruin her reputation so that nobody would listen to what she would say. They created a scenario that she was fired for spreading black propaganda against the company and for being a drug addict.

Come election Day, Mr. Tom Dobbs won the highest position of the land by a landslide. Eleanor, now out of job, took her laptop, infiltrated the company’s computer system, identified the “Glitch” (the 2 B’s of “Dobbs” was erroneously counted as 2 votes), re-programmed her computer and simulated the election using all results and data from voting precincts all over the country. True enough, it was the rival candidate that won, not Tom Dobbs.

On the night of Mr. Dobbs victory party, the lady programmer (Eleonor) disguised herself as a journalist and went to the celebration uninvited. She told herself, if nobody would listen to her perhaps this newly elected president, who seems to be a reasonable man, will. There she met Mr. Dobbs and befriended him. Tom was shocked when Eleonor told him about the “Glitch”.

“I am afraid you did not won the election, Mr. Dobbs”, Eleonor said.

Mr. Dobbs immediately orders his aids to conduct an investigation to determine the veracity of Eleonor’s report. None of them took the order seriously. They all advice him not to believe the lady. While it is true that she was involved in the programming, the woman is just hallucinating. She was fired for spreading unfounded rumors of computer errors and for being an addict. Besides, his aids said, the opposing candidate conceded defeat and there is nobody in the country questioning the result of election.

But Mr. Dobbs remain disturbed. Against the advice of his staffs, he continued communicating with Eleonor. He became curios to learn more about her, the program she created and the company she works. He told himself that if he is to be the president of this country, there should be no slightest doubt that he has the mandate of the people.

On proclamation day, Mr Dobbs received a telephone call from Eleonor informing him that she fears for her life. She said that after their meeting, there had been several attempts to her life. Their telephone conversation was cut short when a truck hit the telephone booth where she was calling. She survives the attempt and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Mr. Dobbs learned about the accident and started to wonder - If she is lying and out of her mind, why would anybody try to kill her? If they are trying to silence her, there must be a truth to what she is saying.

Before proceeding to the palace to take his oath, Mr. Dobbs asked his driver to take him to the hospital. Followed by a long line of security escorts, he arrived at the hospital and saw Eleonor laying in bed with dextrose on her arm and bandage all over her body. But she was able to talk. Mr. Dobbs approached her, look her straight in the eyes and asked: “woman, did you vote for me?”. “No”, Eleonor said.

Then he turned around and asked the same question to all the nurses, aids and doctors present inside the room. Everybody, except one, shook their heads.

From the hospital the convoy went straight to the venue of proclamation. From the entrance of the building Mr. Dobbs walks straight to the inauguration hall, amid flashes of cameras and shoving of microphones from impatient reporters dying to get a word from him. He stepped on the rostrum and started cracking jokes on why he was late to the delight of the audience. Then he kept quiet. For a brief moments there was an eerie silence inside the proclamation hall. Suddenly, he gave a deep sigh and in front of hundreds of guests and millions of people watching over the television, he made this shocking statement:

”My people, I wish to announce the discovery of a computer error during the last presidential election. Before I take my oath, I want a full investigation concerning this matter and possibly recounting of votes. Who knows, I may not even be the elected president of this country”

It follows that after recounting of votes, Mr. Dobbs’s political rival was eventually proclaimed as the winner. The top officials of the computer company were all prosecuted and jailed. Eleonor, the lady programmer, became a celebrity overnight. Mr. Dobbs returns to his TV show as comedian. His advisers and his whole camp criticized and called him the most stupid man they’ve ever met. But the true elected president and millions of people congratulated, admired and loved him. He was, in the eyes of everyone, a true patriot. Because of his honesty, glitch or no glitch, he will be the next president of the Republic. That is, if he is still around to run for the next presidential election. Usually, Patriots are always the best target for assassination.

There were actually two patriots in the story. I guess the reader knows who they are. But the movie is just a fiction. Nobody in this world or in his right state of mind would do what Mr. Dobbs did. Today, majority of our politicians and public officials are blinded by greed for money and hunger for power. They are prepared to lie, buy votes, rig elections, kill or be killed just to remain in power. They fought ferociously to the bitter end as if the government position they hold is their own, not of the people and by the people. It is a vicious cycle that continues to rule and control our political system and our Filipino way of living.

One columnist wrote that our present political leaders no longer deserve to be called “Honorable” because they are a disgrace to the Filipino people and the nation as a whole.

Our government has always been corrupt since it was first established in Kawit, Cavite. However, the degree of corruption is more distinct now than before. Unlike the past administrations, today public opinion no longer matters. Even if caught red-handed of wide-scale corruption, a public official (or their better half) will simply deny wrong-doing, fabricate lies- an insult to Filipino’s intelligence- or point a finger at somebody. It doesn’t matter if people will believe them or not. They would even retaliate by throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at the whistleblower.

Some alarmists say our country may be suffering from the so called “curse of Quezon”. Before the fall of Bataan, Gen. Douglas Macarthur forcibly evacuated President Manuel Quezon to Australia against his will. Quezon was so mad at Macarthur that he said:

“I would rather see my country run like hell by Filipinos than run like heaven by foreigners”.

Had Quezon known that his wish would come true, he would probably retract his statement today.

I refused to believe that Filipino patriots are now an extinct breed. Somehow, someday, somebody would emerge to lead our people and our country to glory. I pray to god that at least before I leave this world, I could still see the likes of Jose Rizal, Gregorio Del Pilar, Apolinario Mabini, Andres Bonifacio and other gallant Filipino patriots and Heroes, and of course, the latest pride of our nation- the late Ninoy Aquino- who once said: “the Filipinos are worth dying for”.

-- END --

THE HISTORY OF SPRATLY ISLANDS

I LOVE MY OWN, MY NATIVE “FREEDOM” LAND

The year was 1964. I had just graduated from high school and was barely a few weeks in college when they handed me an application form for citizenship. At first, I thought it was one of the school’s requirements for new entrants.

As I began to write down my name, parents name, birth date, birth place, etc., I noticed that there was no space in the form for my home address.

Later, all 200 of us, freshmen, were led into a large hall where we were handed a typewritten note. As the ceremony began, a guy step on the podium and made the announcement: “Everybody raise their right hand, pick up your notes and repeat after me”. Then we started reading an “oath of allegiance”.

Thereafter, each one of us received a certificate. As I scan the letters printed on the piece of paper, I realized for the first time that I was now a bonafide citizen of “Freedom Land”. A country of state virtually unknown to all us in the room.

We were almost sure that the certificate of citizenship, distributed by Admiral Tomas Cloma himself, was a joke. It was not until several years later when we found out that all those present on that day, and the others before us who went through similar ceremony, became part of Philippine history.

Sometime in 1956, Admiral Tomas Cloma, the founder and then president of Philippine Maritime Institute (now known as PMI colleges), in one of his many sea escapades, stumbled upon a group of tiny reefs and atolls somewhere in South China Sea. The old map indicates that the vastly treacherous, unchartered and unsurveyed area is called “Spratly Islands”, named after Capt. Richard Spratly, a British captain of a whaler ship, who first discovered the low-laying reefs and sandy islets in 29 March 1849, and named it after himself and his brother and first officer, William Spratly.

Seeing the area totally deserted, and perhaps thinking that it must still be part of the Philippines, Admiral Cloma quickly made his claim. His first intention was to annex the group of reefs and islets with the Philippine archipelago. But the Philippine government was dragging its feet to support his claim. Everyone thought it was worthless and a waste of time and money. They cannot imagine why Admiral Cloma would be interested to annex those dangerous shoals and pieces of scattered barren land, of volcanic origin, where a small twig would not even grow. Besides, majority of the reefs and islets becomes invisible during high tide.

Irate by the inaction of his government, Admiral Cloma subsequently named his claim “Freedom Land”, created his own state and later enlisted students of PMI colleges as its citizen.

Today, it carries the more Filipino name - “Kalayaan” group of islands. The Philippine government is now asserting its rights to sovereignty on the basis of Admiral Cloma’s (now deceased) claim. However, various claimants from Asian neighboring countries has now emerged saying that the Spratlys are their own, either historically or for reason that it is strategically located within their continental shelf.

But why is the ownership of Spratly Islands being hotly contested now when it has been totally ignored for the past decades? Let us go back a few notches from history to find out:

The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 650 reefs, islets, atoll, cays and islands in the South China Sea between the Philippines and Vietnam. However, a quick glance at its exact location in the world map (see inset) would show that it is much closer to the southern tip of Palawan Island than the coast of Vietnam or any other countries claiming ownership.

The Islands comprise less than five square kilometers of land area, spread over more than 400,000 square kilometers of sea. It is also part of the three archipelagos of the South China Sea, comprising more than 30,000 islands and reefs and which so complicates geography, governance and economics in that region of Southeast Asia. Such small and remote islands have little economic in themselves, but are important in establishing international boundaries. There are no native islanders but there are rich fishing grounds and initial surveys indicate the islands may contain rich deposits of oil and gas. The discovery of a huge oil and gas deposits in Camago-Malampaya oil field, in Northwest coast of Palawan, located a few hundred nautical miles from Spratly Islands, provides little doubt that the natural deposits from both locations may be inter-linked at the bottom of the sea.

About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from People’s Republic Of China, Republic Of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Brunei has established a fishing zone that overlaps a southern reef but has not made any formal claim.

The islands were sporadically visited throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by mariners from different European powers. However, these nations showed little interest in the islands. In fact, many European maps before the 20th century do not even make mention of this region.

Brunei’s Claim

Brunei’s claims to the reefs are based on the “Law of theSea”. It states that the southern part of the Spratly chain of islands is actually a port of its continental shelf and therefore a part of its territory and resources.

Malaysia has militarily occupied three islands that it considers to be within its continental shelf. They tried to build up one atoll by bringing in soil from the mainland and have built a hotel in the area. Some countries believe that Malaysia claim was inappropriate considering it was only made in 1979.

People's Republic Of China’s (PRC) Claim

The People's Republic of China claimed that all of Spratly Islands are part of China and have had a historical naval presence on and off. Recently, they have had a profound military impact on the area. From 1932 to 1935, China continued to include the territory in their administrative area through the Map Compilation Committee. The "Second Sino-Japanese" war drew its attention for the mean time from 1937 onwards. After the Second World War, China reclaimed sovereignty over the islands through post World War II arrangements based on various treaties of the "Allied Powers" and China built a hoar-stone on the island. In 1947, the government renamed 159 islands in the area.

They base their claim on the belief that the islands have been an integral part of China for nearly two thousand years and that neighboring countries and European Powers took advantage of China's poor condition and diversity to impinge on its sovereignty.

China claims to have discovered the islands in the "Han Dynasty" in 2 BC. The islands were claimed to have been marked on maps compiled during the time of "Eastern Han Dynasty" and “Eastern Wu" (one of the three kingdoms). Since the 12th century, several islands that may be the Spratlys have been labeled as Chinese territory, followed by the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty from the 13th to 19th Century. In archaeological surveys the remains of Chinese pottery and coins have been found in the islands and are cited as proof for the PRC claim.

PRC have had been severely criticized for their unfounded claims. It has been made known that historically, simply surveying an area without establishing a civilization there or a military garrison does not hold much the same political weight as staking an official claim. However, the PRC’s claim to the Spratlys is mostly grounded in the simple philosophy that since they were there first they rightly have sovereignty.

However, many of these claims to sovereignty came directly from their fantasy books citing works such as “Records of Rarities” and “Exotic Things”, which also describes foreign lands and fantastical creatures such as mermaids, bringing the validity of the source into question. There is also doubt as to whether these sources state a claim of sovereignty or simply mention the Spratlys alongside other foreign lands.

Claims of pottery being found are mostly shipwrecked treasure from Chinese galleons that sailed centuries ago through the entire length of China Sea and perhaps the seven seas of world and did not necessarily come from anyone who inhabited or even visited the islands.

Vietnam’s Claim

Vietnam's response to China's claim is that Chinese records are in fact records about non-Chinese territories.

Vietnam's view is that the Chinese records do not constitute the declaration and exercise of sovereignty and that China did not declare sovereignty over the Spratlys until after World War II.

Vietnamese geographical maps record refers to Spratly Islands as Vietnamese territory as early as the 17th century. They were defined as belonging to Quảng Ngãi District, mentioned in Dai Nam Unified Map, an atlas of Vietnam completed in 1838. It was shown as Vietnamese territory. Vietnam had conducted many geographical and resource surveys of the islands. The results of these surveys have been recorded in Vietnamese literature and history published since the 17th century. France represented Vietnam in international affairs and exercised sovereignty over the islands.

The Cairo Declaration, drafted by the Allies and China towards the end of World War II, listed the territories that the Allies intended to strip from Japan and return to China. Despite China being among the draftees of the declaration, this list did not include the Spratlys. Vietnam's response to China's claim that the Cairo Declaration somehow recognized the latter's sovereignty over the Spratlys is that this claim has no basis in fact.

After the French left, the Vietnamese government exercised sovereignty over the islands. Vietnam currently occupies 31 islands. They are organized as a district of “Khanh Hoa Province".

Vietnam continues to assert sovereignty over the islands. Up to the end of the Vietnam War the army of the South Vietnamese still held military control over the majority of the Spratly islands. After the Vietnam War the unified Vietnam continued to claim the Spratly islands as an integral part of Vietnam. Today, the “People's Liberation Army" and the military of the Republic of China are both stationed in several islands, including the largest, Taiping Island.

The text of the San Francisco treaty listed the Spratlys as not part of the list of territories to be returned to China.

The Philippines Claim

While the Philippines' claim to the Spratly Islands was first expressed in the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, Philippine involvement in the Spratlys did not begin in earnest until 1956, when on May 15, 1956, Filipino citizen and naval Admiral, Tomas Cloma, proclaimed the founding of a new state, Kalayaan (Freedom Land).

The text of the San Francisco treaty stated that Japan had to give up any claim of sovereignty over the Spratlys but did not specify the country to which the Spratlys would go. Tomas Cloma and the present day government's view is that this made the Spratlys Res nullius (meaning- nobody's thing).

Res nullius is a Latin term derived from Roman law whereby res (objects in the legal sense, anything that can be owned, even slaves, but not subjects in law such as citizens) are not yet the object of rights of any specific subject. Such items are considered ownerless property and are usually free to be owned. (Examples of res nullius are wild animals or abandoned property. Finding can also be a means of occupation (i.e. vesting ownership), since a thing completely lost or abandoned is res nullius, and therefore belonged to the first taker).

Cloma’s Kalayaan encompassed fifty three features spread throughout the eastern South China Sea, Itu Aba, Pag-asa and Nam Yit Islands, as well as West York Island, North Danger Reef, Mariveles Reef and Investigator Shoal but not including Spratly Island proper. Cloma then established a protectorate in July 1956 with Pag-asa (one of the Kalayaan group) island as its capital and Cloma as “Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kalayaan State”.

This action, although not officially endorsed by the Philippine government, was considered by other claimant nations as an act of aggression by the Philippines and international reaction was swift.

The ROC (Taiwan), the PRC, South Vietnam, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands lodged official protests (the Netherlands on the premise that it considered the Spratly Islands part of Dutch New Guinea) and The ROC sent a naval task force to occupy the islands and establish a base on Itu Aba, which it retains to the present day.

Admiral Tomas Cloma and the Philippines continued to state their claims over the islands; in October 1956 Cloma traveled to New York to plead his case before the United Nations and the Philippines had troops posted on three islands by 1968 on the premise of protecting Kalayaan citizens. In early 1971 the Philippines sent a diplomatic note on behalf of Cloma to Taipei demanding the ROC's withdrawal from Itu Aba and on 10 July in the same year Ferdinand Marcos announced the annexation of the 53 island group known as Kalayaan, although since neither Cloma or Marcos specified which fifty three features constituted Kalayaan, the Philippines began to claim as many features as possible. In April 1972 Kalayaan was officially incorporated into Palawan province and was administered as a single “poblacion” (township), with Tomas Cloma as the town council Chairman. The Philippines also reportedly attempted to land troops on Itu Aba in 1977 to occupy the island but were repelled by ROC troops stationed on the island. There were no reports of casualties from the conflict. In 2005, a cellular phone base station was erected by the Philippines' "Smart Communications" on Pag-asa Island.

The Philippines contend Kalayaan was res nullius as there was no effective sovereignty over the islands until the 1930s when France and then Japan acquired the islands. When Japan renounced their sovereignty over the islands in the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, there was a relinquishment of the right to the islands without any special beneficiary. Therefore, argue the Philippines, the islands became res nullius and available for annexation. Philippine businessman Admiral Tomas Cloma did exactly that in 1956 and while the Philippines never officially supported Cloma's claim, upon transference of the islands’ sovereignty from Cloma to the Philippines, the Philippines used the same sovereignty argument as Cloma did. The Philippine claim to Kalayaan on geographical bases can be summarized using the assertion that Kalayaan is distinct from other island groups in the South China Sea because:

It is a generally accepted practice in oceanography to refer to a chain of islands through the name of the biggest island in the group or through the use of a collective name. Note that Spratly (island) has an area of only 13 hectares compared to the 22 hectare area of the Pag-asa Island. Distance-wise, Spratly Island is some 210 nm off Pag-asa Islands. This further stresses the argument that they are not part of the same island chain. The Paracels being much further (34.5 nm northwest of Pag-asa Island) is definitely a different group of islands.

A second argument used by the Philippines regarding their geographical claim over the Spratlys is that all the islands claimed by the Philippines lie within their archipelagic baselines, the only claimant who can make such a statement. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) stated that a coastal state could claim two hundred nautical miles of jurisdiction beyond its land boundaries. It is perhaps telling that while the Philippines is a signatory to UNCLOS, the PRC and Vietnam are not. The Philippines also argue, under "Law of the Sea" provisions, PRC can not extend its baseline claims to the Spratlys because the PRC is not an archipelagic state. Whether this argument (or any other used by the Philippines) would hold up in court is debatable but possibly moot, as the PRC and Vietnam seem unwilling to legally substantiate their claims and have rejected Philippine challenges to take the dispute to the World Maritime Tribunal in Hamburg.

In addition to the aforementioned, Sabah, a state of Malaysia, is being claimed by the Philippines under legal and historical bases. So if the Philippines reclaimed Sabah, by default, Malaysia's claims to the Spratly Islands will be declared null, and it will be given to the Philippines, because Malaysia designated its claims to the Spratly Islands as a part of Sabah.

Owing to its proximity to the island of Palawan, no one can contest that the Spratly Islands is within our archipelagic baseline. Moreover, among all the claimants in Asia, it is nearest to our country’s coastline. Therefore, there is no doubt that we definitely own the Spratlys, regardless of other nations claim that their history books says we do not. Unfortunately, our lawmakers are starting to retreat from the fight for possession and right to sovereignty saying that rather than lose everything, it would be better to sit on the negotiating table and discuss partitions of Kalayaan Islands They insist that the Philippines can not sustain an arm conflict in case our Asian neighbors decide to claim the whole of Spratly Islands for themselves. A bunch of cowards, indeed. It keeps me wondering what happen to our decendants with katipunan blood.

(Right inset) A Philippines Star editorial cartoon depicting Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian (holding a "Tai-ping" sign) successfully hitting a Filipino (holding a "Ligao" sign) with a rock. Tai-ping is the Taiwanese name for Itu-Aba island, where President Chen visited in February 2008. The cartoon is a commentary on the Philippines inability to enforce its claim in the Spratlys due to its lagging military capabilities. Ligao is the Philippine name for the island of Itu-Aba.

More worst is the report that our President maybe dealing secretly with the Chinese to conduct sea explorations, extract and share the huge oil and gas deposits of the Spratly Islands. A popular joke says the Spratlys has already been sold to the Chinese.

Lately, our President infuriated the people of Palawan when she made a statement that the Camago-Malampaya oil and gas fields are outside the boundaries of Palawan Island. Analyzing her statement, if it is not part of Palawan then it is not part of the Philippines at all. One critic said: “If it is not part of the Philippines, then what country owns it”. Perhaps, our President was thinking about her Chinese buddies when she made that statement.

Foreign critics say Filipinos are one of the most un-nationalistic, un-patriotic people in the world. While other nationals would risk their lives to protect their country by repelling trespassers, poachers and foreign evaders, we Filipinos just sit down and watch foreigners redicule, abuse, insult and take advantage of us even in our own back yard, steal our lands and pilfer our natural resources.

I don’t know about you bloggers, but I beg to disagree. Our rich and powerful Asian neighbors can try to take away my native "Freedom Land" anytime, but only "over my dead body".

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DINNER DATE

After 21 years of marriage, I discovered a new way of keeping alive the spark of love.

A little while ago, I had started to go out with another woman. It was really my wife's idea.

"I know that you love her," she said one day, taking me by surprise.

"But I love YOU," I protested.

"I know, but you also love her," she said.

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three kids had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

"What's wrong? Are you sick? Is there a problem?" she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call and an unusual invitation is a sign of bad news.

"I just thought that it would be pleasant to pass sometime with you," I responded, determine to convince her that there was nothing into it except I just wanted to be with her.

She paused for a moment, perhaps thinking if I was really serious, then said, "I would like that very much."

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up, I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited at the door. She had her hair made from the beauty parlor and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel.

"I told my friends that I was going to out with you, and they were all impressed," she said as she got into the car. "They can't wait to hear about our meeting."

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the first lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu as her eyes could only read large print.

Halfway through the entrees, I lifted my eyes and saw Mama sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

"It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small," she said.

"Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor," I responded. During the dinner we had an agreeable conversation-nothing extraordinary- but catching up on recent events of each other's life.

We talked so much that we missed going to the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, "I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you." I agreed.

"How was your dinner date?" asked my wife when I got home.

"Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined," I answered. A few days later my mother died of massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.

Some time later I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place Mother and I had dined. An attached note said: "I paid this bill in advance. I was almost sure that I couldn't be there, but, nevertheless, I paid for two plates- one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I Love you."

At that moment I understood the importance of saying in time, "I Love You," and of giving our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than God and your family. Let them know you love them, because these things can not be put off till "some other time".

PERSONAL NOTES:

The above article is not my own but just copied from the book of "reflections", written by an unknown author. But I love to keep it in my personal file because it always remind me of my Mother. She was a martyr woman who went through extreme diffculties in life, trying to raise her 9 children while living with a polygamous husband. She died in bed, right in front of very eyes, while I was carressing her fore head, trying to comfort her while she went through the pain of gasping the last breath of her life. I missed her so much. The pain and sorrow that I felt was unimaginable. Up to this day, I still feel that I have not done enough to keep her remaining days on earth happy.

Indeed, you will never know how important is your mother in your life until you finally loses her. So say "I Love You" to her before it's too late.

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THE SAD STATE OF PHILIPPINE MARITIME EDUCATION - A FISH-BONE THEORY

Actually, what I am writing is not something new. While we have earned the reputation as the world’s major suppliers of experienced and competent seafarers, the international shipping community continues to ridicule us for having one of the lowest qualities of maritime education in this part of the globe.

It is ironic that in spite of the hundred of thousands of graduates emanating from about a hundred or more maritime institutions scattered all over the country, we could not even fill up the worldwide shortage for marine deck and engine officers. The demand has far exceeded the supply, not that we are running short of seafarers ( we have an ample supply of ratings, i.e. ABs, OSs, Wipers, Oilers, etc.) but because there aren’t enough qualified seamen capable of moving up the rank to officers or engineers. Most of our maritime graduates remain unemployed years after completing the required curriculum. Some even gave up their hopes of becoming a seafarer and change to other field of work or profession. The lucky ones, however, gets hire as mess men or wipers if they happen to be a relative or a close friend of a well-experienced Deck or Engine officer and be endorsed as “Bit-Bit”, the colloquial term for an agreement of: “you hire me; you hire the person that I am with”. Owing to scarcity of qualified officers and engineers, most manning agencies succumbed to these requests just to meet their manpower requirements. Other than these, it would be next to impossible to find employment after graduation.

The rise in unemployment rate of maritime graduates is not due to lack of vessel or employer but the insufficient knowledge in seafaring. Ship owners just wouldn’t take the risk of employing these greenhorn sailors lest they be the primary cause of accidents and rise in marine insurance claims.

“The ship is not a school,” said one Japanese ship owner. “They join vessels not to start from the very beginning but to put everything they have learned into practice. If nothing was learn from school, there is no point taking them in as cadet officers or engineers”

The Filipino Association for Mariners Employment, inc. (FAME) conducted a maritime school assessment on 24 February 2007. Representatives from the private sectors took time to evaluate the various maritime schools all over the country. A uniform set of assessment materials were used to test the aptitude of sophomore maritime students. The Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific (MAAP) came out on top of the list. Other schools were far away behind. Unusually, the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) and PMI Colleges did not participate in the assessment program. Saying that they know their school well and doesn’t need other people to tell them their standard. This arose suspicions that they maybe hiding skeletons inside their closets.

In another occasion, a foreign shipping company, favoring Filipino seafarers than other nationalities, invited BSMT and BSME students who have completed the three-year CHED curriculum. A good number of applicants from four corners of the country showed up. The company gave qualifying exams to determine the standard and quality of graduates. Out of approximately 100 examinees, 10 successfully passed, 12 barely made the passing grade of 60 pct, while the rest failed. One even garnered a disgusting score of 8 out of a possible 100 correct answers. It also appeared that the most difficult subject to tackle with was maritime English, where only 5 examinees passed. Even more glaring was the fact that a great majority of examinees failed the I.Q. test. A sign of lack of control in the entry standard for maritime courses. Unlike the prestigious and high profile college degrees, BSMT and BSME, although a baccalaureate degree in nature, is still considered by many as technical-vocational courses where even morons can enroll so long as they can afford the tuition fees. Parents who find their boy less intellectual often say: “you’re too dull to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer. Better take up nautical or marine engineering course”.

Perhaps, it’s about time that people change their perception about the marine profession. Those who think this profession is for the dumb and dim-witted, with bad study habits, aspiring for success the easy way, are making a mistake. Understanding the celestial sphere, solving the sides of a plane, quadrantal and right spherical triangle, learning the Pythagorean Theorem, Napier’s rule, Simpson’s rule, drawing a range of statistical stability, computing engineering, stability and stress problems are not just pieces of cake. You may be able to finish the course – especially if you religiously pay your matriculation fees or regularly contribute to your professor’s non-existence projects. But with nothing in your head, there is no way you can be allowed to even step on the vessel’s gang plank, much less given a chance to complete your 12 months shipboard training to qualify for PRC board exams.

Whether people will agree with me or not, the problem with our shipping and seafaring industry is political in nature. In the “fish-bone theory”, imagine a fish skeletal bone where the head is the main problem, the bones as the primary causes, ending up to the tail as the root causes:

Head

(1) Poor standard and quality of maritime graduates

Fish Bones

(2) Low level of education of enrollees, usually graduates of Secondary Education (High school), coupled by lack of entry standard among maritime Schools.
No less than Sec. Augusto Syjuco of TESDA acknowledged this problem when she urged the DepEd to “shape up”. Saying: “What DepEd is giving us are sub-standard products, students who are hard to teach because of weak foundation in their basic education” (See the Philippine Star, Sunday, September 9, 2007 issue).

(3) Maritime institutions operating under sub-standard conditions, i.e. inadequate equipment, out-dated instruments, dilapidated lecture rooms, facilities not conducive for learning, etc.

(4) Incompetent maritime professors/instructors - We have a saying in manning industry that if you pay peanuts; you get a monkey for a crew. In maritime education, however, if you pay similar compensation, what you get is not a monkey but an old, sickly baboon for a teacher, who happens to have a license and a 6.09 certificate.

(5) Lack of course compendium, course outlines, instructor's guides, nautical , engineering books, teaching aids, you name it. When an instructor is hired, he is normally told only of the subject he is to teach, then the school leaves him in limbo for the rest of the semester.

(6) Schools operating without a system, despite being ISO certified.

(7) Circumvention of CHED rules and regulations by school owners.

· Fish Tail

(8) Incapability of CHED to effectively monitor and regulate the operations of maritime institutions without support and assistance from the private sector, i.e. volunteering Master Mariners, Chief Engineers, maritime organizations, associations and private entities.

(9) The corrupt practices of various government agencies involved with maritime affairs, mixing politics with maritime education and ineptness of our political leaders to fully understand and address the problems besetting the local seafaring industry.

Our manning industry is facing a difficult challenge ahead. The Chinese and our Asian counterparts are now breathing on our shoulders in the race for supremacy in seafaring. They are slowly building up their pool of quality sea personnel; determine to un-seat us as one of the largest supplier of seaman in the world. We still maintain a slight headway because of our proficiency in the English language. But this precarious lead might soon be erased if our new sailors are so intellectually poor that they couldn't even define “Navigation”, or identify the color of “Port” from “Starboard” sidelight, much less construct a simple sentence in English.

I admire FAME and other private maritime organization for identifying the weaknesses in our maritime education system and for moving heaven and earth just to uplift the standard of Filipino seafarers. But I have less sympathy for CHED and other government agencies involved in maritime affairs that, since time immemorial, have continuously relied on the private sector to do their job for them.

The political appointees who continuously enjoy the sweet juices extracted from the maritime business but has no knowledge, whatsoever, about shipping and seafaring, and the kind of support and attention that our national government provides the maritime industry, does not give justice to the millions of dollars remitted by our seafarers and their significant contribution to the country’s economy.

A well-known maritime book writer and educator once said: “The solution to the problem is simple but cruel and painful and, owing to our culture of corruption, will most likely create an uproar and invite the stiffest opposition from all branches of our government. That is – appoint the best Master Mariners and Chief Engineers we have in this country, preferably with doctorate degree, to all government positions involved with Maritime affairs and Close down all maritime schools that could not transform into 3rd mates or 4th engineers” 50 pct of their graduates.

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