MASINLOC, Zambales—After a protracted legal battle framed as a David versus Goliath fight, local fishermen from this town finally received compensation for their payao, a fish aggregating device that was lost when a cargo ship ran it over on January 17.
Leonardo Cuaresma, chairman of the New Masinloc Fishermen’s Association (NMFA), which owned the destroyed fishing device, said the operator of HC Glory settled out of court and paid them P500,000 last week.
“They first offered P350,000 but then raised it to P500,000 when we offered to withdraw the case from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board). Our members have agreed to accept the offer because we also lose if we prolong the issue,” Cuaresma said.
The fishers’ group initially sought a total of P900,000 in damages from HC Glory, a bulk carrier operated by the Hong Kong Haichang Holdings Group, Ltd.: P150,000 for the destroyed payao; P360,000 in unrealized income from the scheduled payao harvest; and P390,000 for income from hook-and-line fishing by the 36 NMFA members that was lost when their payao was destroyed.
The damage claim was filed with the Sanggunian last February after being assured of legal help by Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.
HC Glory was then about to deliver a cargo of fuel to the coal-fired power plant here when it ran over NMFA’s payao. The coal plant is owned and operated by the Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.
Cuaresma said the payment from HC Glory was delivered by a ship agent from another shipping company, who was authorized to act on behalf of the Hong Kong Haichang Holdings Group, Ltd. This was because the firm’s own ship agent was declared persona non grata in Zambales for failing to appear during hearings conducted by the provincial board, Cuaresma added.
The payment from HC Glory was the third financial windfall that the local fishers received following the loss of their payao early this year and after BusinessMirror ran a front-page feature on their plight on February 11.
On March 3, the group received a P150,000 fund from Zambales Second District Representative Doris Maniquiz for them to build and install a new payao so that they could continue with their disrupted means of livelihood.
On June 12, NMFA members received a pledge of P909,000 from the SMCGP Philippines Power Foundation, Inc. for the installation and maintenance of fish aggregating devices in waters off Masinloc. Cuaresma said they received the fund on August 10.
The fishing group had made good use of the money they received over the ramming incident. Cuaresma said that with the P150,000 livelihood assistance from Congresswoman Maniquiz and some money given on credit, they have set up three more payao units.
From these new payaos, the group had harvested fish twice, earning P53,000 from the first harvest and P23,000 from the second, Cuaresma said.
He added that with the P500,000 payment from HC Glory, the group released a P1,500 bonus and a 25-kilo sack of rice to each member, as well as paid for the wages of members who built a smokehouse to make tinapa (smoked fish), project that would also involve their womenfolk.
The payao fund from the SMCGP Foundation, meanwhile, is still intact in the bank and will be used for future projects, Cuaresma said.
Image credits: NMFA