THE provincial government will not object if the foreign vessel, recently intercepted in the town by joint elements of different law enforcement agencies for allegedly transporting in about 1,350 kiloliters of smuggled fuel worth P54-million, to another place as requested by the Sual local government.

Vice Governor Mark Ronald Lambino said Monday he received a letter from Sual Mayor Liseldo Calugay calling for the possible transfer of the sea vessel possibly to a more secure port even outside the province.

Lambino said while the vessel is in the territorial waters of Sual and under the jurisdiction of the BOC, and the 13 crewmen are already under at the jurisdiction of Sual Police Station, he said he cannot comment on the incident as it is already under the jurisdiction of the BOC and also, because a provincial prosecutor already issued a resolution.

“All I can say is there is a request that if possible, to transfer the vessel to a more secure port particularly outside the province of Pangasinan, somewhere in Poro Point, La Union,” Lambino said.

“They have better capacity to secure and safeguard this ship because Sual port is small and the capacity of Coast Guard and PPA here is quite limited and this is acknowledged by Sual LGU,” he said.

He added that he had replied to Calugay stating that he will not object in case the vessel will be transferred but the one who can decide if the vessel can be transferred is the fiscal.

On May 15,  a joint operation by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group, and local PNP resulted in the seizure of an estimated 1,350 kilolitres of smuggled diesel fuel worth P54 Million stored in twelve compartments of the vessel “MV Veronica-1” at the Sub-port of Sual. (Eva Visperas)

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