Company operating ill-fated M/V Trisha Kirsten 3 banned in BARMM

January 31, 2026 | 3:56pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Bangsamoro regional officials on Saturday assured to help the national government stop the operation in the autonomous region of the shipping company that owned the M/V Trisha Kirsten 3 that sank in the sea near Basilan early this week, a mishap that left 33 passengers dead.

Five regional lawmakers submitted on Friday, January 30, to the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament a draft resolution for its approval, tasking the region’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Bangsamoro Ports Management Authority to stop the operation in the region's territorial seas of all vessels of the Aleson Shipping Lines Incorporated, most known in Mindanao by its acronym ASL.

Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ordered on Friday the MoTC-BARMM and the BPMA to enforce in the region the separate directives from the central offices of the Department of Transportation and Communications and Maritime Industry Authority suspending the operation of ASL anywhere in the country.

BARMM parliament members Jet Lim, Jose Lorena, Nabil Tan, Don Mustapha Loong and Nurredha Misuari stated in the resolution they jointly authored that they want a closure to the offshore tragedy involving the M/V Trisha Kirsten 3. All five of them are from the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Lim said they also want a separate inquiry on the incident, in aid of legislation, as a basis in formulating regional laws meant to ensure the safety of seafarers in the autonomous region.

“We want closure to that incident. We want answers to the inquisitions of the families that lost members due to the sinking in the deep sea of that vessel,” Lim said.

Lim said they appreciate the instruction of Macacua, their figurehead in the Bangsamoro government, to officials of the MoTC-BARMM and the BPMA to help the Philippine Coast Guard and other national government agencies determine the circumstances that led to the sinking of the M/V Trisha Kirsten 3.

“All of those who perished in that incident are our constituents,” Lim said.

Two Maguindanaon regional lawmakers, Naguib Sinarimbo, chairperson of the local government committee of the BARMM parliament, and the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding Jr., who is also functioning as the region’s health minister in a concurrent capacity, separately assured to support a legislative inquiry on the issue as sought by their five colleagues.

Sinarimbo, Sinolinding and another regional lawmaker, Raissa Jajurie, also from Sulu and is overseeing the Ministry of Social Services and Development-BARMM, told reporters their respective offices can work together in providing health and psychological interventions for the rescued passengers of the M/V Trisha Kirsten 3.