Negros cops hold 23 fishers as coastal patrol tightened

BACOLOD CITY — At least 23 fishermen from Mindanao were held for questioning after their fishing boats were monitored to have docked in two cities on Negros Island amid a security alert in the region.

Chief Supt. Edmund Gonzales, Negros Island Region police director, ordered the provincial police directors of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to improve security measures in every police station after a relative of the leaders of the Maute terror group was arrested in Iloilo City on Panay Island.

The Islamic State-inspired Maute group, aided by Abu Sayyaf bandits, attacked Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province on May 23.

Government troops have been battling the terrorists, who have taken control of some sections of the city, for nearly a month now.

Intelligence gathering
Gonzales also urged police officials in the region to work closely with the community, stay on alert and continue with intelligence gathering and monitoring, especially in coastal areas facing Panay.

Gonzales said the 23 fishermen, aboard two fishing vessels, docked in Sipalay City in Negros Occidental and in Bayawan City in Negros Oriental.

Chief Insp. Romeo Vargas, Sipalay police chief, said they invited for questioning four crew members of a fishing boat after Bantay Dagat team members reported on Monday their arrival at the Dagat-Dagatan area in Barangay 2 Poblacion.

The four crew members, however, were able to present their identification cards to policemen.

Vargas said the fishermen came from Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte province. They were forced to dock in Sipalay after their boat ran out of fuel.

He said one of the fishermen told police that his group left Dapitan on June 17 and was on its way to Pinamalayan town in Oriental Mindoro province, through Basay City in Negros Oriental, when they ran out of fuel, forcing them to dock in Sipalay.

Fishing nets, containers
The boat was carrying fishing nets and containers. Vargas said the four fishermen would be investigated and their fishing boat would be turned over to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for verification.

In Negros Oriental, the PCG held 19 fishermen in Bayawan City after they failed to present documents for their vessel. The fishermen also had no identification cards, police said.

The FB Hermen, a fishing vessel owned by an official in Sindangan town in Zamboanga del Norte, docked at the Boulevard area in Barangay Villareal in Bayawan on Sunday.

Police said the vessel left Sindangan port on June 17 for a fishing trip but strong winds battered it, causing the vessel to drift toward Negros Oriental.

Local fishermen saw the vessel along Bayawan’s waters at 5 a.m. Sunday.

Boat captain Clark Junfrin Ladiana and his crew members were taken to the Bayawan police station for investigation.