THE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) is batting for the creation of a National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) that will handle all accidents in the air, on land and at sea. Arnie Santiago, Marina Enforcement Office officer-in-charge, said the staff of the proposed NTSB should be air, land and sea transport experts. Engineering and maintenance backgrounds, Santiago said, are also necessary in this field.
He explained that the proposed NTSB should have powers to sanction government and private company officials. "If Marina, the Air Transportation Office, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and other private firm officials are liable then the board should be given powers to punish them," Santiago added.
Santiago also proposed that the NTSB be given complete autonomy, and that it be given a team of accident investigators who will look into the technical aspect of a mishap.Santiago said the creation of the NTSB would lessen chances of "white-washing" aside from expediting the handling of accident investigations and lessening incidents of corruption.
