Zambales fishers wary of PCG’s handling of boat

SURVIVORS’ TALE Recounting their brush with death, the crewmen of the ill-fated FFB Dearyn tell the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) that eight of them were fishing on smaller service boats while six, including their captain, were on the mother boat when it was hit by a foreign ship on Monday. —PHOTO FROM PCG

SUBIC, ZAMBALES—The group of fishermen who survived the recent ramming by a foreign oil tanker in the West Philippine Sea expressed fears that their boat would become a complete wreck while under the care of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

In an interview on Tuesday, fisherman Johnny Manalo said their group were dismayed upon learning that their fishing boat, FB Dearyn, which the PCG has retrieved from where it sank in the waters off Pangasinan, was dragged into a rocky area of the shoreline near the PCG substation in Barangay Wawandue.

“We didn’t even know that there was already a plan to bring the boat here in Subic town. The PCG said they were not sure where to bring it,” Manalo said.

According to Manalo, he only learned that FB Dearyn arrived in the town around 4 p.m. on Monday, following a ceremony in nearby Subic Bay Freeport to mark the boat’s retrieval from the open sea.

Manalo said the boat was turned sideways and hit the rocks when it was pulled to the town’s shoreline.

“That could destroy the boat so how can they assure us that this piece of evidence will be preserved?” he said.

The ill-fated boat was first brought to Subic Bay by the PCG after nearly a week of retrieval operations after it was hit on Oct. 2 by passing Marshal Islands-flagged MT Pacific Anna, which did not stop even after it rammed the stationary fishing vessel. Three fishermen were killed in the incident.

Safer area

At a press briefing on Monday, PCG Vice Adm. Joseph Coyme, commander of the Maritime Safety Services Command, said he had instructed the commander of its station in Subic to look for a more secured harbor area where they could safely keep the fishing vessel.

Coyme assured the fishermen that the boat would be preserved during the investigation, together with the Marshall Islands officials.

“Everything will be documented but there is a possibility that the left side of the boat will be scratched along the way. The most important thing here is that the evidence is already here,” he said in a text message on Tuesday.

Coyme said there was already a big scrape of paint on the bottom of the fishing boat, citing the underwater inspection done by the diver of the salvage company, Harbour Star.

He said they decided not to let the vessel get soaked in water as its paint could peel faster.

—JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT INQ