Zambales gov’t to help fishermen seek damages from HK ship over wrecked ‘payao’

Zambales fishers blame this Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier for supposedly destroying their artificial reef on Jan. 17. (Contributed photo)

SAN ANTONIO, Zambales—The provincial government has committed to help fishermen in Masinloc town who have been seeking compensation from a Hong Kong-based cargo ship that reportedly destroyed their “payao,” or fish aggregating device, recently.

In a statement on Thursday (Feb. 9), Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said a government legal team would represent the Masinloc fishermen, who have been seeking to collect P900,000 in damages from the operator of the bulk carrier HC Glory, which allegedly hit the payao while it was delivering coal to the Masinloc Coal-Fired Thermal Plant on Jan. 17.

“We will definitely back up our people in their quest for justice,” Ebdane said.

He added: “I have already instructed our legal team to represent the fishermen, and the matter has also been referred to the agriculture and legal committees of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) to see what further assistance we can render,” he added.

Leonardo Cuaresma, president of the New Masinloc Fishermen Association and owner of the payao, said they were asking for P900,000 in damages that would cover their potential income loss.

He said local fishermen would have earned more than P300,000 a month from the wrecked payao.

Mario Morete, 57, one of the affected fishermen, said they were forced to stop venturing out to sea after the incident.

According to Morete, they were getting at least 10 tons of fish from the damaged payao in every harvest.

Reynaldo Sirrado, another fisherman, said he could hardly feed his family after a long trip into the open sea due to a lack of catch.

“We have waited a month to harvest from that payao, but we are still hopeful that the authorities will help us run after that ship that ruined our payao,” Sirrado told the Inquirer in an interview.

In a separate interview, Oliver Mayores, the vessel’s agent, said the ship’s captain asserted that he did not hit the payao.

“Despite this, he (the ship’s captain) is actually willing to help and pay the fishermen between USD 500 and USD 1000 using his own money. But when I told the fishermen about it, they were angry, and they refused to accept it,” said Mayores.

According to Mayores, he still tried to facilitate a negotiation between the two parties since the ship’s insurance company could pay for the alleged damage, adding that “the fishermen insisted that they would just file legal cases.”

“The [ship] captain waited for the formal complaints, but we did not receive them until they left [the country],” said Mayores.

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JPV