INFANTA–Fishermen here have appealed to the government to help them to freely access and fish inside the disputed Panatag Shoal and to stop Chinese fishermen from getting their fish catch.

Yoyoy Rizol, 46, a fisherman from Barangay Bayambang, Infanta town, said in an interview on June 11 that while they were fishing in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal on May 25, a rubber boat of the Chinese Coast Guard approached them and took selected fishes from among their catch.

There were 12 fishermen in their banca, he said.

Rizol said the May 25 encounter was not an isolated incident as personnel of the Chinese Coast Guard have been routinely getting some of their catch for the past months.

He said they would go fishing at least twice a month or thrice if good weather permits.

He said the Chinese Coast Guard took big lapu-lapu, maya-maya, talakitok, loro as many as 25 kilograms with a market value of P3,000.

He said the Chinese Coast Guard that boarded were unarmed but the operator of the rubber boat always had a gun beside him.

After getting their catch, the CCG personnel gave them a bag of expired noodles (six pieces), that he noted had expired in 2017, Risol said.

“Okay lang manghingi pero wag naman kukunin lahat ng malalaking huli namin (It’s okay to ask but they should not get our big catch),” he said.

He said they were deprived of bringing home money for their family because of this.

The three fishermen from Masinloc, Zambales who were featured in a TV report, and appeared at the press conference presided by Presidential spokesman Harry Roque last June 11, however, had a different version.

The 3 fishermen – Romel Cejuela, Delfin Egana, and Jurry Drio – said: 1) The CGG personnel took some P4,000 worth of fish but they still managed to return home with more than P200,000 worth of fish. 2) They have been having free access to Panatag since 2017 unlike in years preceding years since 2012, they were completely barred from entering the fishing ground. 3) The CCG offered noodles, water (that the fishermen needed), and cigarettes but whose total value did not match the value of the fish they got. 4) They could not communicate with each other since they could not speak Chinese and the CCG personnel did not speak English.

“Wala kaming magagawa. Minsan sabi namin tumigil sila pero wala, ayaw nilang makinig ” he said.

He said his cousin from Cato, Infanta also experienced this and the rest of fishermen who fish in Panatag Shoal.

He said this incident has been going on for sometime after the government intervened about their plight where some of their fellow fishermen were fired with water cannon and shooed away by Chinese Coast Guard while they were fishing near the Panatag Shoal.

On the other hand, the 3 fishermen at the presscon said things are much better today and would not risk any change in government policy lest the harassment they experience again what they experienced in 2012-2016 that included being shooed away with water cannon and threatened with being rammed by the ships.

“Yong pakiusap lang na hintuan ang pagkukuha ng ganun lamang… pwede naman kaming makisama kung hinggin sa magandang paraan at mag-barter ng patas,” Cejuella said at the presscon.

He appealed to the government to help them fish freely in Panatag Shoal.

Right now, they fish outside Panatag Shoal as they are not allowed to go inside, Rizol said.

“At saka po sana pag maabutan kami ng masamang panahon, hayaan kaming makapasok sa loob ng Scarborough para naman safe kami (And during bad weather, we would be allowed to seek refuge inside Scarborough because it is safe there),” he added. (Eva Visperas with report from PCOO)

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