Families to SC: Sulpicio owner is criminally liable for 2008 sea tragedy

The families of the victims in the 2008 sinking of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars in Romblon asked the Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a decision clearing the owner of Sulpicio Lines Inc of any criminal liability for the death of more than 300 passengers.

In a 32-page motion for reconsideration, the families, represented by the Public Attorney's Office, said Edgar Go, SLI's owner and vice president for administration, should still be held criminally liable for reckless imprudence.

"The court cannot turn a blind eye on the criminal liability, under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code, of shipowner who, by his own acts and omissions, cause significant damage against the life and property of another—just because he is a shipowner," read the petition.

Civil liability, not criminal

In its ruling, the high tribunal upheld the Court of Appeals' rulings, dated March 22, 2013 and January 8, 2014, that absolved Go of any criminal liability for the sea tragedy.

The SC ruled that Go's failure to instruct the ship's crew to seek shelter or drop their anchor during the storm only constituted civil liability and not criminal.

The SC said that while Article 2206 of the Civil Code was applicable to the case, it does not change the nature of the shipowner's obligation from civil to criminal, the court said.

In its motion for reconsideration, however, the petitioners said: "The liability of respondent Go is not premised on his mere ownership of Sulpicio Lines Inc., but on his management and control over SLI's vessels and employees."

"The mere fact that an accused is the shipowner does not necessarily mean that he can no longer be found criminally liable for reckless imprudence," said the petitioners, adding that ruling otherwise would modify the "unequivocal and unqualified" definition of reckless imprudence under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code.

The petitioners insisted that Go had knowledge that the vessel was traversing its regular route and was going eye-to-eye with Typhoon Frank, despite the declaration by the shipmaster of a alternative route to the Philippine Coast Guard.

"Go never acted surprised or alarmed upon being informed that the M/V Princess of the Stars was taking the regular route. It was not news to him that the Stars was not supposed to be in the regular route," they said.

They added: "This fact alone blatantly shows foreknowledge of accused Go that captain Florencio Marimon never intended to take the Stars through the alternate route but was merely a ruse to obtain a departure clearance from the Philippine Coast Guard."

They also said only the captain can validly invoke the "overriding authority" and not the shipowner. Such authority is invoked when a captain's defiance of his owners to sail is intended for safe navigation or protection of the marine environment.

In its motion for reconsideration, the petitioners also asked that the case be referred to the SC en banc since the petition pertains to a "matter of paramount national interest."

Apart from the 300 confirmed dead, hundreds more remain missing, most of them believed to be still trapped inside the sunken vessel.

The petitioners also said that Go's defenses would be better threshed out in a full-blown trial. They also insisted that Go's petition for certiorari with the Court Appeals had long been rendered moot and academic, since the trial has been going on since 2010 and the prosecution has already presented nine witnesses.

"Such a stage of the criminal case is nothing less than indubitable proof of the existence of probable cause," they said. It was the CA that had ordered the Manila Regional Trial Court to stop trying the case. — BM, GMA News