Senator Robinhood "Robin" C. Padilla has sent aid to some of those who were affected by the tragic fire that hit the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 off Basilan last Wednesday night.

Padilla's brother, Rommel, went to Zamboanga where some of the injured were brought.

Rommel, with help from Zamboanga-based volunteers, extended financial aid to the injured.

On Friday, March 31, Senator Padilla expressed his deepest sympathies to the loved ones of those who died, as well as those who were affected, by the fire that hit the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 off Basilan.

The senator said he was saddened that the tragedy came even before the nation could recover from the oil spill off Mindoro.

"Bukod sa pagsuspindi ng Passenger Ship Safety Certificate ng MV Lady Mary Joy 3, dapat lamang nating balikan ang puno’t dulo kung bakit talamak ang mga trahedya sa karagatan (Aside from the suspension of operations of the Passenger Ship Safety Certificate of the MV Lady Mary Joy 3, it is but proper that we take a deeper look into why such tragedies still happen). Habang iniimbestigahan ang puno't dulo ng trahedya, kasama ang pagsuri ng paglabag sa polisiya at proseso sa paglalayag, dapat na rin tayong maghanap ng paraan para mapalakas ang ating shipping industry, pang-cargo man o pampasahero. Naluluma na ang ating mga barko at marami rito ay secondhand na binili sa ibang bansa. Wala rin tayong tunay na kumpetisyon, dahil 40 percent ng ating ruta ay iisa lang ang operator (While our authorities investigate the tragedy - including violations of policies and procedures - we must find ways to make sure this does not happen again by strengthening our passenger and cargo shipping industry. One issue is that our vessels are aging and many were bought secondhand from other countries. We also have no real competition, with 40 percent of our routes served by one operator)," Padilla stressed.

"Huwag na nating hintayin na magising na naman tayo sa malagim na balita tungkol sa trahedya sa pagbibiyahe (Let us not wait for another morning when we will wake up to news of yet another tragedy involving our transportation system)," he added.