MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The case filed by a shipping firm against officials of the state-run weather bureau, held responsible for the sinking of one of its ships this year, has been dismissed by a local court.

In his five-page decision, Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila regional trial court said Sulpicio Lines Inc. failed to show proof that there was “bad faith, malice, and gross negligence” on the part of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) director Prisco Nilo and chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz during their forecast of the weather at the time the MV Princess of the Stars sailed for Cebu in June.

The Sulpicio Lines Inc.-owned ferry, carrying at least 700 of its passengers, sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province at the height of typhoon Frank and the shipping company blamed PAGASA’s alleged faulty forecasting for the tragedy.

While Sulpicio Lines excluded PAGASA from its civil complaint, the shipping company still sued Nilo and Cruz and sought P4.5-million in damages, relying on the doctrine that “the state could not be sued without its consent.”

“It is clear from the law creating PAGASA that it is performing a governmental function, hence immune from suit,” Pampilo stressed.

As for the personal liability of Nilo and Cruz, the judge ruled that their acts were performed in the discharge of official functions and, thus, they could not be sued in their personal capacity. “As a general rule, an officer of the government may not be held personally liable if he performs acts within the scope of his official duties and within the scope of his assigned tasks,” he explained.

Pampilo said he was convinced that bad faith, malice or gross negligence were not sufficiently established in the acts performed by the PAGASA officers, who were acting within the scope of their official duties.

Sulpicio Lines had claimed that PAGASA and its officers’ wrong forecasting had been done with gross incompetence and irresponsibility and that they had decided to proceed with the operations because the weather bureau’s bulletin 10 had “wrongly and maliciously” announced that Frank was west-northwest when it was actually west.

The shipping company further claimed, “The inexcusable neglect of duty and gross incompetence of the defendants directly caused MV Princess of the Stars to sail into the eye of the typhoon and directly causing the vessel to capsize resulting to serious loss of lives.”

“The demands and inconveniences of litigation will divert the time and resources of the State to the prejudice of the public welfare hence, the case of Sulpicio Lines and Edgar Go against PAGASA, Prisco Nilo and Nathaniel Cruz must be dismissed,” the judge concluded in his decision.

“The resolution of the Board of Marine Inquiry had a decisive effect,” Pampilo said, citing the persistence of Sulpicio Lines to set sail on June 20 despite the fact that other shipping companies had decided to suspend their operations because of typhoon “Frank.”

The judge said that PAGASA had “definitely not been remiss and it had no malice in issuing the weather bulletins.” “Definitely, Sulpicio Lines is to blame although this is what we call an act of God,” he emphasized.

Pampilo said Sulpicio has 15 days to file an appeal before his court. Should the motion for reconsideration fail, Sulpicio Lines can seek relief from the Supreme Court where the issue raised is purely a question of law, he said.