MANILA - The Maritime Industry Authority on Friday allowed five vessels of Aboitiz Transport System Corp. to set sail after it passed a safety inspection done by the agency. (Read: SuperFerry back in business)

Marina officials said Aboitiz was able to fix minor defects on the five vessels including signages, inventory of spare parts and the lack of minutes of the meeting of the vessel.

They said the SuperFerries 2, 12 and 19 and the Cebu Ferries 1 and 2 can set sail after being grounded for a week. On the other hand, the SuperFerry 1 and 5, the MV Our Lady of Mt Carmel remains on dry-dock while the MV our Lady of Rule and Our Lady of Good Voyage have yet to undergo inspection.

Marina board members said Aboitiz official and Marina board member Enrique Endika Aboitiz was requested to abstain from voting on the ATS suspension.

Aboitiz officials, meanwhile, said the lifting of the suspensions only proves that their vessels adhere to international standards of safety for seafaring vessels. The Marina grounded the 10-vessel fleet of ATS after the 7,000-ton SuperFerry 9 capsized off Zamboanga peninsula, leaving 10 people dead.

ATS is the Philippines’ biggest passenger-ship operator, cornering 60 percent of the domestic market.

Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo, meanwhile, said Malacañang will hold Marina accountable for the decision. "We assume that before making that decision they have conducted thorough investigation of the vessels," she said.