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"Asia's Titanic" on National Geographic Channel

It was five days before Christmas in 1987 in a calm night in the Philippines MV Doña Paz of Sulpicio Lines set sail from Tacloban in Leyte to Manila. It was another Christmas vacation ferry trip when all of a sudden, it collided with an oil tanker off-coast of Mindoro, creating a fireball and inferno that claimed almost five thousand souls and only twenty four remain. A Christmas to remember…and claimed the title at the Guinness World Record as “The Worst Peace-time Maritime Disaster.” It was indeed Asia’s answer to the infamous Titanic.

The Ill-Fated MV Doña Paz of Sulpicio Lines

This is what the Filipino director Yam Laranas wanted to share to the rest of the world after three years of research and production. Stories about how only a handful from the more than four thousand people, survived and lived to tell the tale and the search for the answers on the disaster which has been etched in Philippine and international maritime history.

The first full-length National Geographic docu-drama that is 100% Filipino made, gave another reason to look back on the issues of our maritime safety of our country…an archipelago republic at the Pacific. Somehow though, the documentary did gave a hanging question though…what were the improvements that were done after this disaster? Seeing some video footage of angry relatives storming Pier 12 of Sulpicio Lines, is very reminiscent of what happened last June 2008 when MV Princess of the Stars (yes, it’s a Sulpicio ship) capsized off Romblon while venturing the rough seas with only a handful survived (again).

The survivors and the relatives of those who died or still missing still cries for justice. Twenty years after, even if Board of Marine Inquiry blamed the oil tanker for the death of the passengers…the question of safety is still hanging.

“Asia’s Titanic” will premiere at National Geographic Channel on 25th of August, Tuesday, 9:00PM (Philippine Standard Time).