Cokaliong: Cebu Really Needs VTMS

Shipping company officials are asking the government agencies tasked to improve the maritime safety to address the problem about defective lighthouses in several areas in the Visayas.

Chester Cokaliong, former president and now spokesman of the Visayas Association of Ferryboat and Coastwise Operators (VAFCO), said while some of the sea disasters are caused by human errors, but some happened because of government’s failure to do its task.

When he was asked to deliver a speech before the shipping operators who attended the National Forum on Safety of Domestic Ferries held in Manila recently, the founder and chief executive and operating officer of Cokaliong Shipping Lines called the government to quickly address the problem.

The problem includes the absence of or inoperational lighthouses in many areas of the Visayas and even in Mindanao.

Cokaliong said the Port of Maguino-o in Calbayog City has no lighthouse at all, while the lighthouses in Palompon, Maasin, Capitancillo Island in Bogo City are also erratic or sometimes non-operational.

He also said the entrance to the Port of Ozamis City has inoperational entrance buoys, while the Lipata Bank or the Lauis Ledge near Talisay City has no lighted buoy, and also at the northeast of Bantolinao Point of Cebu.

“The entrance to the Port of Palompon also has no buoy,” he said.

According to Cokaliong the Port of Cebu really needs a Vessel Traffic Monitoring System (VTMS) that serves like the air controller of an airport to help prevent sea disasters, particularly of the heavy maritime traffic in Cebu.

Top officials of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) were listening to Cokaliong when he delivered the message and promised to bring the matter to the attention of the Philippine Coast Guard and port authorities.