"MV Princess of the Stars" ship captain Florencio "Boy" Marimon Sr. of barangay Catagbacan, Loon town leads the list of at least 25 Boholanos who remain missing in two separate sea tragedies at the height of Typhoon "Frank" over the past weekend.

Their relatives and friends are still hoping to see them alive or much less the retrieval of their bodies.

Until presstime yesterday, one was confirmed dead as six Boholano passengers of the ill-fated passenger ship "MV Princess of the Stars" had survived and are now being treated in hospitals in Cebu City while some of them have already gone home.

"MV Princess of the Stars", carrying some 862 passengers and crew, capsized off Romblon province around 11:30 on June 21 a few minutes after its Boholano ship master Marimon reported that the 23,000 ton ferry had lost engine function and was swept by lashing winds off Sibuyan Island in Romblon.

Meanwhile, two apprentice seamen who just finished their maritime studies at the Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI) and Crystal-E College were among the missing crewmen of the coal cargo vessel "MV Lake Paoay" that also sunk near Burias Island in Romblon Saturday last week.

As of yesterday, rescuers who had to stop their operations due to pesticides discovered inside the sunken ferry already recovered 135 dead with 46 survivors bringing the figure of those still missing at 671.

Of the bodies recovered, only that of Jose Ramil Tuquib, was identified to be that of those reported among the missing Boholanos.

Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of "MV Princess of the Stars", confirmed the following Boholano passengers as missing: Myla Abarquez, Gloria Capayas, Benedicto Chua, Henry Chua, Romulo Logroño, Dexter Molina, Ephraim Tayongtong Jr., Anastacia Rulida and son Xyron Rulida, Michael Paredes, Alejandro Ayade, Alvino Laborte, Cesario Talaboc, Emilio Laborte, Teresito Laborte, Lucrecia Sanguenza, Elmer Ganade, Cherry Amor Ganade, Richard Mejares, Acilles Anit and Dexie Filomeno.

"CAPTAIN COULD BE DEAD"

Although it pains Teresita Marimon-Cabacang to think that her elder brother, Captain Marimon, is dead, she said her brother would not have bailed out from the sinking ship without helping other passengers.

Cabacang, who teaches at a private high school in Catagbacan, Loon, told a Chronicle team who visited Marimon's hometown last Friday that his brother would not think only of himself as he had this trait of being helpful and compassionate.

She noted that several times when she took the vessel her brother skippered that he personally checks the situation of the passengers.

Cabacang narrates: "He is a very simple man and all his junior shipmates call him 'Tatay' as he does not want to be called 'sir' by his crew."

"My brother does not like to stay at the captain's cabin but instead would prefer to supervise his crewmen at the ship's bridge," she added, "he even eats his meals there [at the bridge]. He is very fatherly to his shipmates."

For 33 years, Captain Marimon had stayed loyal to Sulpicio Lines even with the very low pay he was getting and the various offers he got from international shipping firms, Cabacang said.

Cabacang's belief that her brother may already be dead was bolstered when their nephew, Reuel Lariba who is the ship's navigator was reportedly found by divers trapped in the ship's bridge. The divers only recovered Lariba's cellular phone and identification card which was sent to his parents in Loon last Thursday.

"The two would regularly stay together since they were close," she said.

"ONE MISTAKE"

Reacting to statements which laid the blame of the ship's fate to 55-year old Captain Marimon, Cabacang said his brother may have committed that "single mistake" of pursuing the voyage even in the storm.

"But considering his prayerful nature, he may have trusted everything to the Lord and tried his best to maneuver the ship to safety," she said.

According to Cabacang, proof of his brother's firm belief in God is having altars of the Santo Niño set up at the ferry's bridge and the captain's cabin.

Captain Marimon is one of the most senior and trusted captains of Sulpicio Lines rising through the ranks since his apprenticeship more than 30 years ago, she said.

While many believe that her brother is alive and could be hiding somewhere, Cabacang said, "he would have called up his wife already who has been sick."

She described Captain Marimon's relationship to her family as "very close" and that two of the five children are still in college.

According to Sulpicio Lines officials, they received a distress call from Marimon around 11:30 a.m. Saturday that the ferry had run aground.

By that time, Marimon, ordered all passengers to abandon the passenger ferry before it capsized a few minutes later.

The 24-year old "MV Princess of the Stars" was purchased by Sulpicio Lines from Japan in 2001 at a cost of $5 million and had no record of any malfunction or mechanical trouble. It was the biggest passenger vessel of the shipping company's fleet.

Based on official manifest, the vessel carried around 81 children of the 724 passengers, 27 contractors, concessionaires and sea marshals, and 111 crewmen.

According to accounts of survivors, only a few of their fellow passengers were able to don lifejackets after the captain's alarm while others jumped into the water towards the ship's 14 life rafts.

Sulpicio Lines officials pointed out that the ship's size allowed it to sail even under Storm Signal No.1 under maritime rules.

The company said the ferry was in good running condition and that it had just undergone regular "dry-dock" inspection in February last year at the Subic shipyard.

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) requires dry-dock inspections every two and a half years.

SAVED BY BAMBOO PILE

"MV Lake Paoay" was from Simirara Islad in Mindoro and was on its way to deliver their coal cargo to Toledo City.

In an interview over Station dyRD, survivor Tolang, who is from Bilar town, said that their cargo vessel lost engine function off Capiz province Saturday.

The ship, carrying 5,000 tons of coal, drifted off to Burias Island in Romblon after the engine failure before it finally capsized.

According to Tolang, most of the ship's 26 crewmen huddled on a stack of bamboos that was included in their cargo. However, most of the others, including the two other Boholano apprentices could no longer keep hold of the bamboos due to the big waves.

Tolang said most of the others who were recovered washed ashore already had decomposing skin.

RECOVERING

One survivor, Niño Lauros is still confined at the Chung Hua Hospital in Cebu City due to vomiting.

According to Lauros' mother Gloria when interviewed by the Chronicle, her son had just finished apprenticeship on an inter-island vessel and was applying for a job in Manila during the past months.

Lauros was to return to the province last Sunday to visit his parents and two younger brothers whom he has been sending to school in Loon town.

According to Gloria, his son who was discovered by Army rescuers in Masbate province could not yet eat solid food although doctors have pronounced him safe.

SULPICIO CRITICIZED

Boholanos strongly criticized the management of Sulpicio Lines and its local agency in the city for being "insensitive" to the victims of the tragic incident.

Radio listeners of dyRD jammed the airwaves criticisms on the local agency for almost ignoring the queries from families of the victims.

The local agency did not even bother to politely answer a radio interview last Wednesday amid several queries from kin of the missing Boholanos. The agency did not even bother to provide the phone number of Sulpicio Lines offices in Cebu City.

It was only yesterday morning when the agency sent its manager to the Chronicle to relay the Cebu phone number (032- 5162728) fror inquiries.