PAO wants Sulpicio to show bodies of ship passengers, both dead and alive

MANILA, Philippines – At the request of relatives of sea mishap victims, the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Thursday said it will bring the owner of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars to court to have it produce the bodies of the ship’s passengers, both dead and alive.

In an interview on dzBB radio, PAO chief Persida Acosta led a legal team to the Sulpicio Lines office in Manila Thursday to gather information for the prospective petition they will file before the Court of Appeals.

“Idudulog namin ito sa korte para maghain ng petition to produce the dead, and in the case of survivors, magfa-file kami ng petition for writ of habeas corpus (At the relatives’ request, we will ask the court to order Sulpicio to produce the bodies of the dead and the living bodies of survivors),” Acosta said.

Acosta said the PAO hopes to speak to representatives of Sulpicio Lines and relay to them the impatience of the relatives to wait for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to identify the bodies.

“Limang araw na naghihintay ang mga kamaganak (The relatives have been waiting for more than five days),” she said.

For its part, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said it has set up a complaints center along Roxas Boulevard, near the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex.

The VACC said that with the long list of requirements sought by Sulpicio Lines to qualify for compensation benefits, the victims are beginning to doubt its sincerity in offering P200,000 to the families of each fatality. - GMANews.TV