eedjits

I presume someone knows, worldwide, the tragedy that happened to M/V Princess of the Stars. This is the latest among the list of Sulpicio Line's maritime tradegy. I am not blogging late. As a matter of fact, I have many times started to write but did not know how to end it without pointing a finger. But as much as I tried, I know that what I would write about will just end that way so I stayed away from the topic. After all, after having read the editorial in Philippine Daily Inquirer last June 26, I realized that the questionable safety record of Sulpicio Lines could not have been better worded. So I wanted to write about other things or not write at all. That is until I watched the news today...

Government officials ordered salvage divers to cease retrieval operations in M/V Princess of the Stars because of the presence of Endosulfan - a neurotoxic insecticide which is known to be an endocrine disruptor. Swallowing an eight milligram of this chemical means death in minutes without cure. The report said that M/V Princess of the Stars carried 10 metric tons of this chemical and currently it is located in the submerged portion of the boat near the stern. If it were not a letter sent my Del Monte Philippines inquiring from the the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) it might have been too late for the government to fix the problem.

Since this chemical is neurotoxic not only humans are endangered but also marine life as well as migratory birds and any animal exposed to the chemical. If a leak occurs this will be a multibillion disaster because of the chain of effects due to the damage in the ecosystem. If it happens, it'll be one catastrophe the whole world will see.

I'm pissed. Really pissed. I don't eat pork, beef or any four legged creature, I am weaning myself from chicken, and because I know those fishies would eat the carcasses underwater I am refraining from eating fish lately. But fishies are our friend. I don't want my friends to die. And I don't want my friends to die because they were poisoned by a pesticide. *Sniff* Fish are not pests! So they better get that damn pesticide cargo out soon without leaks.

To make matters worse one of Go family, owner's of Sulpicio Lines, was in the news today bitching that this was not only a company tradegy but also a national crisis. He was teary and he said that he knew the crew members of M/V Princess of the Stars. I feel you. But I stopped feeling for him when he said that people should stop blaming them because most of them in Cebu do not even go home to sleep because of this crisis.

Your company allowed a ship carrying hundreds of passengers and crew, loaded with illegal pesticides, to sail into a typhoon. Hello?!? Eeedjit. People will blame your company because of lack of security and crisis management. Sweetie, nobody wants to be blame, but that's part of the job. Accept it. If you can't, don't bitch at the media. And hire a bettere PR team if you want to keep your company afloat.