Zambales fishers want to sell dredge floaters

SEVERAL fishermen in Barangay San Agustin in Iba, Zambales province, dismantle the dredge floater assembly, extracting the screws from the steel pipes. They are asking the provincial government to allow them to sell these so they can make up for lost income from fishing. ALLAN MACATUNO/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

IBA, Zambales—Some of the fishermen who found parts of a dredging equipment in Cabangan town last month have asked Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to allow them to sell these so they can use the money for their families’ needs.

Jorge Limuardo, president of Lanao-Bangan Fishermen’s Association in Barangay San Agustin here, said they had started dismantling the kilometer-long dredge floater assembly on Saturday as ordered by Ebdane.

“Since we pulled these floaters to shore last week, we haven’t returned to fishing. We’re hoping to make money out of it,” Limuardo told the Inquirer.

Limuardo was among the fishermen who towed the floaters to the coastline of Barangay San Agustin on July 25. He said they spent about 20 hours at sea to pull the assembly to the shore.

“It wasn’t easy work. Even if we ran out of food and water at that time, we didn’t stop. We knew that these floaters have value,” Limuardo said.

“If we can sell these floaters, it will ease our hunger,” he said.

The fishermen plan to convert the floaters to payao (artificial reef) to increase their catch.

“As for the steel pipes, we can sell them so we can have some money to buy ropes and other fishing gears,” Limuardo said.

On Saturday, several fishermen, using tools or their bare hands, dismantled the assembly, extracting screws from the steel pipes. A backhoe was also seen moving a few dismantled pipes and floaters away from the shore.

Limuardo said their group asked Ebdane, through a letter sent to the governor’s office last week, to issue a clearance so they could sell the floaters.

“Governor Ebdane said if no one claims [the assembly], we can have it because we found it. We take his word for it,” Limuardo said.

Jonas Quilantip, barangay secretary of San Agustin, said the fishermen’s letter, which was endorsed by village officials, was received by Ebdane’s office on Friday.

“The governor has called for a meeting with the concerned fishermen today to discuss what we’re going to do with the assembly,” he said.

The dredge floater assembly spans a kilometer long, with each floater measuring 2 meters in diameter.

Earlier, Ebdane said the device would be kept in the shores of San Agustin and Sto. Rosario villages in Iba town.

“If no one claims it, then it may be given to the fishermen who found it,” he said.

Zambales fishermen first saw the objects, which local authorities earlier mistook for oil containment booms, some 5.5 km (3 nautical miles) from the shoreline of Cabangan on July 24.

Several fishermen said they believed the objects, which have Chinese markings, could have been washed away from the Scarborough Shoal, since they saw similar objects near that area.

The shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal, is one of the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea. It is 230 km (124 NM) west of Zambales.

Fishermen from the provinces of Zambales and Pangasinan said they had been driven away by Chinese Coast Guard personnel from the shoal, a rich fishing ground for locals.

But Erwin dela Torre, an expert in the manufacture of industrial rubber and fiberglass pipes, told the Inquirer that the interlinked buoys and metal pipes were part of a dredging equipment.

Dela Torre said a dredge floater assembly is attached to a dredging machine while sucking up sand from the sea bottom. The device has three interlinked parts—a pipe, a floater and a connector.

Ebdane said the assembly must be compared with the equipment reportedly being used by China in its reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea.

“Unless China claims ownership of these objects and shows proof, it’s too early to say that these can be used as evidence [against its incursion into the West Philippine Sea],” Ebdane said in an earlier interview. Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon