Sunday, June 29, 2008 Disaster prompts question on board choice
A FORMER shipping executive campaigning for reforms in the maritime sector has questioned the appointment of a ship owner in the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Board that ordered the suspension of Sulpicio Lines’ operations.
Vicente “Tet” Gambito said he found it inappropriate for Enrique Aboitiz to sit in the Marina board that suspended a competitor’s operations.
The appointee owns Aboitiz Transport Inc. He used to head WGA, the merger of William Lines, Gothong Lines and Aboitiz Shipping Lines, the three major shipping firms from the 1960s to the 1990s.
When asked to comment, Marina Administrator Vicente Suazo Jr. confirmed that indeed President Arroyo appointed Aboitiz to the Marina Board more than a year ago, but that the order to suspend Sulpicio’s operations has nothing to do with competition.
More than the fleet inspection and audit on Sulpicio, Suazo said what is being done is a “top-to-bottom evaluation” of whether the shipping firm followed the National Safety Management Manual.
“My decision to ground the vessels of Sulpicio Lines is a normal practice of Marina, which was approved by Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza. That comment about the appointment of Aboitiz came from a malicious and polluted mind,” Suazo said.
Gambito, however, said that President Arroyo and Suazo should not evade the questions over Aboitiz’s appointment in the Marina Board, when the body regulates the shipping business his company operates in. (EOB)
