Manila Bulletin

Criminal charges filed vs 35 gov’t officials, owners of MT Princess Empress in Oriental Mindoro oil spill

Criminal charges were filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday, June 6, against officials of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the crew members and owners of MT Princess Empress which sank off the coast of Oriental Mindoro last Feb. 28 and spilled about 800,000 liters of industrial oil.

DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV said the charges were filed by the National Bureau of Investigation’s Environmental Crime Division (NBI-ECD) and Mayor Jennifer Cruz of Palo, Oriental Mindoro.

Clavano said 35 persons were named respondents in the complaint for multiple counts of falsification, multiple use of falsified documents under Article 172 in relation to Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC); multiple counts of falsification of public or official documents under Article 171 (4) of the RPC; and perjury under Article 183 of the RPC.

“Ngayon lang po tayo nakapagfile dahil inuna natin ‘yung clean up (The complaint was filed only now because we prioritized the clean up),” Clavano said.

Owned by RDC Reield Marine Services Inc., MT Princess Empress sanked last Feb. 28 after allegedly ignoring gale warnings.

Clavano said “’yung case build up patuloy pa po doon sa mga environmental crimes pati rin po sa graft and corruption charges which may possibly be filed in the future (there continues to be case build up for the environmental crimes as well as the possible file of graft and corruption charges).”

“Dito sa mga falsification of public documents hindi gaano kabigat ‘yung parusa. Although what we are looking are environmental crimes and graft and corruption charges which possibleng ipafile within the next few weeks. So ‘yun ang inaabangan natin and I think mas mabigat ‘yung parusa doon (In the falsification of public documents case does not still penalties. Although what we are looking are environmental crimes and graft and corruption charges which could be filed within the next few weeks. We are anticipating these and these carry heavier punishments),” he said.

He said the complaint filed before the DOJ has 22 attachments that showed that RDC Reield Marine Services Inc. have documents that were “either perjured or falsified just to make the ship look as if it was brand new.”

“Upon further digging into the whole situation nalaman natin falsified po talaga ‘yung mga documents and, upon checking the data base and the records of our agencies, may mga sinubmit po no ‘yung RDC Reield Marine Services na wala po doon sa records nila. So ang ibig sabihin ‘nun either nawala ‘yung kopya nung record or falsified po talaga yung sinubmit nilang mga supporting documents (Upon further digging into the whole situation, we found that the documents were falsified and, upon checking the data base and the records of our agencies, there are documents that RDC submitted which are not in our records. This means that these documents are missing or falsified when it submitted the supporting documents,” said Clavano.

He said the first charge in the complaint concerns the Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) of RDC which was found to be non-existent.

Those named as respondents are the seven incorporators and directors of RDC; six crew members of MT Princess Empress; and 19 members of the PCG, he said.

Clavano also said the officials of RDC are “presumed to be the authors of the falsified documents as they were in possession of the same and made use of the document” as well as “benefited from the use of the falsified document.”

“The Philippine Coast Guard is liable as they conduct pre-departure inspections for domestic oil tankers prior to voyage and, first and foremost, on their checklist is to check the validity of the CPC,” he said.

He pointed out that there are 18 counts of falsification since MT Princess Empress had “18 voyages from Dec. 3, 2022 until Feb. 26, 2023.”

For the second charge of multiple counts of falsification of public or official documents, Clavano said this concerns the falsified Construction Certificate and Tonnage Measurement Certificate; the Certificate of Ownership; and the Certificate of Philippine Registry.

“The officials from MARINA and RDC Reield Marine Services Inc., allegedly conspired for the purpose of illegally registering the MT Princess Empress with false documents,” he said.

Also charged, he said, were the director of MARINA Region V, head of MARINA Shipyard in Region V, and two officials of RTC. But Clavano did not name them.

“For perjury under Article 183 of the RPC, documents perjured are the supporting documents to apply for tonnage measurement certificate,” he said as he noted that two RDC officials were held liable.

“The two company officials, through the falsified construction certificate and the perjured affidavit of ownership and builders certificate, obtained tonnage measurement certificate signed by engineers of MARINA,” he explained.

A copy of the complaint was not available as of posting. Clavano merely issued a press briefer. (Jeffrey Damicog)

National News

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2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilabulletin.pressreader.com/article/281560885190246

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