Quezon City 4th district Rep. Marvin Rillo (Facebook)

Quezon City 4th district Rep. Marvin Rillo says the wearing of life jackets on motorized passenger boats should be made compulsory.

Rillo, a vice chairman of the House Committees on Metro Manila Development and on Tourism, had this say following the tragic sinking of motorboat MB Princess Aya, which killed 27 people.

“Every traveler on a motorized boat should be wearing a life jacket at all times throughout the voyage as a precaution. This is a simple and practical measure that can help safeguard lives at sea, or in lakes and rivers,” Rillo said in a statement on Sunday, July 30.

“If you visit beach resorts nowadays, and you hire a motorized boat for an island-hoping tour, they will require everybody onboard to put on a life jacket for protection. The same rule should be applied to all light watercraft carrying paying passengers,” the rookie solon reckoned.

Princess Aya capsized in Laguna Lake on July 27, shortly after setting out from Barangay Kalinawan in Binangonan, Rizal.

With a seating capacity of 42 passengers, the boat was overloaded with 67 people, 27 of whom drowned in the lake that has an average depth of 2.8 meters or nine feet and two inches.

The watercraft was on its way to Talim Island near the center of the country’s largest lake when it was buffeted by strong waves and rolled over.

A criminal investigation is underway, and the Philippine Coast Guard since relieved two of its officers who allowed the vessel to set out despite the “no-sail policy” due to Super Typhoon "Egay" and the apparent overloading.