MARINA promotes rights of passengers
MANILA-- The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) on Thursday advocated seaborne passengers’ rights in another awareness campaign at the Cebu Ports Authority in Cebu City.
During the event, Nannette Villamor-Dinopol, deputy administrator for operations of MARINA, said their “nationwide approach” to information dissemination will lead to better awareness of these rights.
“We replicated the campaign in Luzon, here in Visayas, and next month in Mindanao -- for we believe that a nationwide approach
to information dissemination yields better and more meaningful impact to our stakeholders,” Villamor-Dinopol said.
During the information campaign, the official said such rights include the right to information to cancelled or delayed voyages, the right to refund or revalidate tickets in such scenarios, and the right to amenities such as meals and free accommodation following revalidation of tickets, if necessary.
These rights also apply to sea passengers of an incomplete voyage, including the right to be transported to their destination.
The maritime transport office also clarified the right to compensation of sea passengers for a cancelled or delayed voyage only applies if free accommodation is not practicable for the shipping operator.
These rights are also only applicable if their voyages were cancelled, delayed, or uncompleted due to causes attributable to the shipping operator. Joy Dianne Gumatay, MARINA communications officer, said non-compliant shipping operators or ship personnel can be sanctioned based on MARINA’s Circular 2018-7.
“May sanctions po depende kung pang ilang offense (there are sanctions depending on how many times they have repeated the offense),” Gumatay said in a message sent to reporters.
The MARINA also encouraged sea passengers to read said circular for more information on their rights in their website https://marina.gov.ph/ and call +63 995 400 7336 or +632 521 804 to report non-compliance of shipping operators or for complaints.
On April 11, 2019, MARINA’s information campaign was formally launched at the Port of Batangas in Batangas City to inform sea passengers of their rights and obligations of shipping operators in incidents at sea that cause inconvenience to the riding public.