Philippine lawmakers push to ban local shipping company's operations following ferry tragedy

Lawmakers in Mindanao in the southern Philippines have begun lobbying to prevent a local shipping company from continuing to operate within the same region where one of its vessels was lost in a deadly accident late last month.

Five members of the Transitional Parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have filed a resolution calling for a ban on the operations of Aleson Shipping Lines anywhere within the region in the wake of the January 26, 2026 sinking of the Ro-Pax ferry Trisha Kerstin 3 off Hadji Muhtamad municipality in Basilan province.

The incident's official death toll stood at 40 as of Sunday, February 1, though authorities expect the number to rise as search and retrieval operations are still being conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard and local civilian volunteers.

"All of those who perished in that incident are our constituents," said John Anthony Lim, a member of the BARMM majority in parliament and one of the co-authors of the resolution.