A cease and desist order has been slapped against RDC Reield Marine Services, Inc., the owner of the sunken motor tanker (MT) Princess Empress, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) confirmed on Holy Wednesday, April 5.

MARINA Enforcement Service (ES) Director Ronaldo Bandalaria said the order was released to stop the operations of the two remaining vessels of RDC, motor tankers “Criseldrei” and “Natiel Faye.”

“It is true that the Administrator of MARINA [Hernani Fabia] issued a cease and desist order for the remaining vessels of the company RDC Reield Marine Services. Right now, the operations of the two ships of the company, Criseldrei and Natiel Faye, are prohibited,” Bandalaria said in a public briefing.

“Also included in the show cause order of MARINA are the marine surveying company and the shipyard which are sought for explanation as part of administrative procedures,” he added.

MARINA is investigating whether or not the MT Princess Empress sailed without a certificate of public convenience (CPC), a document which proves RDC’s authority to operate.

If proven that RDC violated MARINA’s rules and regulations, Bandalaria said the agency could revoke the CPC of the company.

“As an administrative and regulatory agency, the MARINA can cancel or revoke their CPC and file administrative fines and penalties,” he said without further elaborating.

For now, Bandalaria could not say until when the cease and desist order will be implemented.

“We cannot say for how long it will be in place. But MARINA is meticulously inspecting the remaining vessels of the company to ensure their compliance. The processing of administrative cases against the company is also ongoing,” he said.

RDC has yet to issue a statement on the matter but it previously stated that it will cooperate with all the ongoing investigation even as they continue to work on the oil spill clearing operations.

From scrap to tanker?

Meanwhile, a fact-finding committee was also created by MARINA to investigate reports that MT Princess Empress was allegedly a scrap ship turned into an oil tanker.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a GMA News Online report on March 16 that MT Princess Empress “is a rebuilt scrap” and “was not built to be a tanker from the very beginning.”

“The MARINA is looking into that report. We created a fact-finding committee to verify the veracity of that information. Let us just wait for the result of our investigation,” Bandalaria said.

MT Princess Empress sank off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28 while carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil. An oil spill resulted from the incident which has since affected hundreds of thousands of residents from Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Antique, and Batangas.