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Bacolod City — The Bacolod Regional Trial Court (RTC) has ordered a shipping company to pay P4.8 million in damages to the relatives of three Bacolod residents who died in the 1999 sinking off Bantayan Island of a passenger ship.

In a decision released Tuesday, Bacolod RTC Judge Ray Alan Drilon found Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc. and MV Asia South Korea skipper Capt. Porferio Labagday “at fault and negligent in the discharge of their obligation as a common carrier.”

Drilon was acting on a civil case for damages filed by Milbeth and Simplicio Nepacena Jr. for the death of their children Jumille Marie and Jesselle, and by Esmelinda Tio and Brenda Tio Uytiepo, for the death of their sister Suzette Tio when the MV Asia South Korea sank off Bantayan Island on Dec. 23, 1999.

Suzette and her nieces Jumille Marie and Jesselle of Bacolod City boarded the MV Asia South Korea in Cebu, where they had gone on vacation on Dec. 22, 1999, bound for Iloilo.

At 5:25 a.m. on Dec. 23, 1999, the hull of the ship hit some rocks in the shallows off Bantayan Island, ripping off the vessel's right side and causing it to sink, the court was told.

An investigation of the accident showed that the ship, which was authorized to carry not more than 600 passengers, took more than 800 passengers. There were 769 survivors and 54 deaths, showing that 823 passengers were on board the ship when it sank, the court was told.

The complainants claimed that there was no distress signal when the ship sank and the passengers panicked, grappled for life vests and jumped overboard.

Those in cabins were not able to get out, including Tio and her two nieces, the relatives told the court.

Tio's body was later found floating off Cadiz City, while the bodies of the two girls were recovered in a cabin of sunken wreck.

"The crew did not observe emergency and safety procedures," the court was also told.

The plaintiffs said they got in touch with officials of the shipping company but the officials ignored them so they filed the civil case.

The captain, the plaintiffs said, should be held liable for negligence because he allowed the overloading, leaving his watch to get sleep, failing to send a distress signal and failing to observe proper procedures for the safety of passengers when the ship was sinking.

However, Trans-Asia Shipping Lines maintained that the sinking of the vessel was not the fault of the carrier and instead attributed the accident to strong waves and erratic weather.

Drilon said the court could not sustain the stand of the company that the sinking of the vessel was a fortuitous event.

The court ordered the shipping company to pay the Nepacena couple P100,000 for civil indemnity, P2 million in moral damages, P1 million in exemplary damages, and P150,000 in actual damages for the death of their two daughters.

It also ordered the company to pay the sisters of Tio P50,000 for her death, P1 million in moral damages and P500,000 in exemplary damages.