The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas ordered the ship abandoned when it began listing and then sank just minutes after collision late Friday with the MV Sulpicio Express Siete, coast guard deputy chief Rear Adm. Luis Tuason said.
Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Abaya announced official passenger figures following confusion over the actual number of people on the ferry.
He said the ferry carried 831 people ' 715 passengers and 116 crew ' fewer than the numbers given earlier by the coast guard and ferry owner, 2Go. He said the death toll has risen to 31 with 629 rescued.
There were foreigners on board "but they are all OK", except for a New Zealand citizen who was in hospital, he said.
Cebu coast guard chief Cmdr. Weniel Azcuna said 171 were listed as missing, but the figure would go down once the number of crew members who have been rescued are officially accounted.
Tuason said some of the missing could still be trapped inside the vessel that sank in waters about 33 meters deep off Talisay city in Cebu province, 570 kilometres south of Manila.