Cruise Ship Law

By CARINE ASUTILLA
ABS-CBN Cebu

CEBU CITY - Widows of crewmen of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars of Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) on Thursday called out to families of the other crew members to refuse at least in P20,000 death benefits being offered to them.

They said the amount is an insult to their husbands who lost their lives from the tragedy. They said that if the families of passengers got P200,000 in death benefits, they should receive the same.

Elina Edisan, whose husband Efren worked as a tool keeper in the ill-fated ship, said that the company is following the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between SLI and the Sulpicio Employees' Union.

She said that the CBA stated that both licensed and unlicensed crew of the boat only have P20,000 life insurance. The amount will be doubled if the crew met an accident.

"They read to us the CBA [that says] if my husband is still missing we get 20,000 pesos, if the victim is identified, we get 40,000 pesos," said Edisan.

She said that she will not accept the death claim of worth P40,000.

Another widow, Rosabella Cabanganan, whose husband Francisco worked as a watchman, said that she will not process the requirements for the said death claims as she thinks it is an insult to the life of her husband.

"My husband worked there, he lost his life in an accident, and we only get that amount? Why can’t we get the same insurance with the passenger victims?" said Cabanganan.

Appeal to others

Lorena Dizon, wife of 4th Engineer Librado Dizon, said that her husband used earn P20,000 per month as salary. She said she will not accept P40, 000 being offered for death claims.

She said that the amount is not enough to pay the damage. She urged the families of other crewmen not to accept the insurance.

Larry Straus Beduya, industrial relations officer of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, said that they are currently negotiating with SLI management to increase the insurance for the crew and level it with the death claims of passengers.

He said that aside from death claims, they are asking the management to give education scholarship to children of crewmen and provide jobs to the next provider for the crew’s family.

He said that SLI is open for negotiation and they are still waiting for their respond to it.

There were 121 crew in the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars, 73 of whom are members of ALU-TUCP.

Ten of the 73 members are licensed crew while the 63 are unlicensed crew or rank and file.