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Investigations against ferry

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) investigated the Covi-19 stricken 'Saint Anthony'. The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Regional Office IV (MRO 4) issued suspension order of the vessel's passenger safety certificate until the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) issued their clearances. Marina also monitors the health protocol compliances of its other ships. Marina Advisory No. 2020-86 states that it is the obligation of the shipowner and shipmaster to immediately inform the health authority and the MARINA at the next port of call about any suspected case of Covid-19. The DOTr maritime sector composed of Marina, PCG, and Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) investigates lapses in health protocols. On Aug 7 it was discovered that 25 seafarers on board the vessel tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This was in addition to the three infected crew members who disembarked from the ship on Aug 1 and Aug 5 2021 at the Port of Batangas, without securing a permit from the PPA. Although they have been hospitalized due to Covid-19, the vessel's shipping company only informed the PCG and PPA about the three seafarers days after they left the ship. They remain confined but are in stable condition. The preliminary investigation also suggested that MV Saint Anthony de Padua continued to transport passengers despite the indications of infections among its crew members. The 433 passengers on board the ship from Aug 1 to 4, may now have indirect or direct exposure to the disease. As part of standard protocol, these passengers are being subjected to a rigorous contact-tracing process. The incident led to the issuance of a Show Cause Order to the shipping company by the PPA Port Management Office (PMO) - Batangas on Aug 11.

25 crew members infected with Covid-19

25 crew members of the 'St. Anthony de Padua' were tested positive for Covid-19 in what was considered as the biggest virus contamination incident in a single setting in Batangas. The ferry was about to sail from the Port of Batangas to the Port of Caticlan in the province of Antique on Aug 1, 2021, when two of its crew members disembarked at Ramp 5 of the Port of Batangas and went to a private hospital after one of them experienced loss of appetite. With all the remaining crews and passengers on board, the vessel sailed on to Visayas and was informed on Aug 2 the two crew members who were brought to the hospital tested positive for Covid-19. In the night of Aug 3, the vessel sailed back from Port of Caticlan and arrived at the Port of Batangas the following day with another 33 passengers on board. After the disembarkation of the passengers, the vessel moored on the anchorage at the Batangas Bay inside the territorial waters of Bauan town, where two more crew members experienced loss of appetite and loss of smell. The Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) received a call from Engr. Lansen Padua of 2Go Travel seeking assistance for transporting them to the hospital. On Aug 5, they disembarked with a tug and were ferried to Ramp 5 of the Port of Batangas and then brought to another private hospital via a tricycle. Even when they were tested positive, they were not accommodated in the same hospital due to unavailability of rooms. They were then transferred to a private resort that is locally accredited facility of the local government before one of them was eventually transferred to an accredited facility of the Bureau of Quarantine, while the other one was redirected to San Juan District Hospital. Acting on the increasing alarm of contamination, the shipping company outsourced the services of a private testing laboratory to test all the crews of the vessel and on Aug 7, it was confirmed that 25 crew memebers were infected with the virus. The positives and the negatives alike were quarantined aboard the vessel. The positive tested crew members were individually isolated within the vessel. Meanwhile, Governor Hermilando I. Mandanas, asked the shipping company to work in close coordination with concerned agencies to assure the immediate contact tracing of the passengers from Caticlan, Antique that have disembarked in the Port of Batangas. Dr. Ernesto Magsino, another member of the Batangas IATF, expressed alarm of further contamination of the remaining crews as most of the Delta variants were traced to the asymptomatic patients, given the situation that there were 25 positive cases confirmed in a matter of three to four days only.