22 ‘underpaid’, ‘overworked’ fish cage workers rescued in Pangasinan

Fish cages workers in Sual, Pangasinan give their statements to the National Bureau of Investigation at its Dagupan District Office after they were rescued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development on Tuesday. Photo by Willie Lomibao

DAGUPAN CITY — Authorities on Tuesday rescued 22 fish cage workers from their employers in Sual town in Pangasinan province.

The rescued workers were mostly from Kibawe town in Bukidnon province, according to Clarivel Banzuela, chief of the community-based services section of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office.

Some of the rescued workers were from the provinces of Albay, Samar, Leyte and Zamboanga del Sur and Cagayan de Oro City.

Banzuela said the Kibawe social welfare office has informed her that several workers in Sual fish cages had wanted to go home but their employers did not allow them to leave.

A fish cage worker had escaped from Sual early this month and had told the Kibawe social welfare office about their plight.

“The work was hard and they were not well-compensated,” said Banzuela, citing accounts of a fish cage worker.

She said that when the workers were recruited as fish feeders, they were promised a monthly salary of P7,500, aside from free food and accommodation.

Banzuela said after the first month of their work in the cages, P2,500 was deducted from their salary, supposedly to cover their transportation expenses from Bukidnon to Pangasinan province.

Just when they thought it was a one-time deduction, the same amount would be deducted monthly on the succeeding months and this time, they were told that it was for the cost of their food, said Banzuela.

She said the workers complained of overwork and were housed in makeshift structures with small cubicles and without cemented floors.

Three children and a two-week old infant were also rescued, Banzuela said.

Banzuela said owners of the fish cages did not show up during the rescue operation.

But agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Dagupan City, who assisted the DSWD in the operation, invited for questioning the office assistants of three fish cage operators.

Personnel from the Department of Labor and Employment, who joined the rescue operation, are now also determining the charges that would be filed against the fish cage owners.

Banzuela said there could be more workers in the area who wanted to leave but were just afraid because they live in their companies’ compound.

There are at least 750 fish cages in the Sual mariculture zone straddling Sual’s coastal villages of Pangascasan, Baquioen and Cabalitian.

Banzuela said after the NBI had taken the victims’ statements, they would be housed in a temporary shelter here, where social workers would assess their needs before they are accompanied home.

“All they want now is go home. I hope we will be able to send them home by next week,” said Banzuela. /lzb