Chinese Coastguard left Panatag Scarborough Shoal- Filipino Fishermen Returns with Huge Fish Catch

Pinoy fishers return from Panatag Shoal with huge catch of fish

Fishermen from Pangasinan returned home early Saturday with a huge load of big species of fish they caught from Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, after they were allowed to fish inside the lagoon for first the time in four years.

Some fishermen from Pangasinan arrived with their huge catch early Saturday morning after days of fishing inside the shoal beginning Wednesday night.

They showed their "brimming" boats with the catch of black and orange lapu-lapu fish, bakalaw, tanigue, and damas o bisugong bato, among other species of fish.

The returning fishermen said they were surprised when finally on Wednesday evening no Chinese Coast Guard vessel blocked them upon their approach at the entrance of the shoal.

"Noong Martes, sinubukan naming pumunta sa Scarborough Shoal (called Kalburo in the locality) pero hinarang kami ng Chinese Coast Guard vessels," said Gilbert Rovinna, the skipper of F/B Rovinna fishing boat.

Free to fish again at Scraborough --GMA News

He said they tried again to go near Wednesday evening and they were surprised the Chinese did not stop them until they got inside the lagoon and dropped anchors.

Gilbert and his companions thought that the sudden change in the Chinese Coast Guard's behevior was a result of President Rodrigo Duterte's talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

They said they are happy to be back at the shoal because fish is abundant in the fishing ground, especially in the west side of the lagoon.

Noel Daruca, Gilbert's companion, said that when they came to the shoal on Tuesday, Chinese Coast Guard met them at the opening of the lagoon. He said they told the Chinese that the Philippine President had talked to their President, but the coast guard personnel said "go!go!go!"

Then they tried their luck Wednesday evening. No Chinese blocked them so they proceeded into the lagoon.

Chinese ships circling shoal

Only a small Chinese Coast Guard vessel is left inside the lagoon, the report quoted the fishermen as saying.

A separate report by Bam Alegre on "Balitanghali" said that at least three Chinese Coast Guard vessels were seen circling the perimeter of Panatag Shoal on Saturday morning.

These vessels did not block and allowed at least six Filipino fishing boats to catch fish inside the disputed shoal, the report said.

Quoting fishermen as saying, as recent as October 8 local fishermen are being blocked by the Chinese but in the last five days the first batch from Subic were allowed entry.

On Friday, Malacañang confirmed that Chinese Coast Guard men were no longer chasing Pinoy fishermen away from shoal.

"Also on regarding fishing in Scarborough Shoal, for the past three days it has been observed that there are no longer any Chinese Coast Guard vessels and that Filipino fishing boats are no longer being intercepted and that they are now able to fish in the area without being intercepted," presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said at a news briefing in Malacañang on Friday. —John Ted Cordero/ALG, LBG, GMA News

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Four Filipino Seamen Arrested in India for sending Cyclone Update through a Satellite phone

Four citizens of Philippines were arrested by personnel of Arjyapalli marine police station in Ganjam district of Odisha, India on Sunday afternoon on charges of illegally using satellite phone on Indian soil.

Sources said the four Philippine Nationals were using satellite phone in the radius of five km from the coast.

The police seized one satellite phone from their possession. They were arrested from Gopalpur port. The arrested Philippine nationals had reached Gopalpur port in a cargo ship. The ship in which they have travelled to Odisha coast has reached the port to carry export cargo for OSCOM, a unit of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL). They had come to Gopalpur Port in a cargo vessel - MV Fortune - last week to take minerals to Japan.

According to Ashok Parida, inspector in-charge of marine police station, on Sunday they had intercepted satellite phone calls from Gopalpur port premises. It was found that the satellite phone was being used illegally.

Immediately a police team tracked down on the users and arrested the four Philippine nationals.

On Saturday evening, they were using a Thuraya satellite communication set on board, to talk to their families about the possible cyclone developing in the sea. Coast Guard officials saw them using the satellite phone and informed the police.

They are identified as Second Officer Nathaniel A. Faza (38), Chief Petty Officer Librado P. Jemina (37), Chief Cook Eduardo S. Gruspe (46), and Seaman Jescel B. Bautista (34).

Several calls were made by arrested Filipinos from the banned satellite phone which has been frequently used by terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. The phone was used during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, police sources said.

A Dubai-based satellite communications company, Thuraya has global customers which include industry leaders from a variety of sectors including energy, media, marine, government and NGOs. Islamic terrorists are also detected subscribing Thuraya satellite services for their communication needs reason why it is banned in Indian Territory.

The superior network of the company enables clear communications and uninterrupted coverage across two thirds of the world via satellite and across the globe through our unique GSM roaming capabilities.

The Filipinos had not declared the presence of the set in the Pre-Arrival Notification System (PANS) of the vessel, a mandatory declaration for all boats and ships that intend to enter Indian waters.

Use of Thuraya satellite phones is banned in Indian territorial waters under section 6 of Indian Wireless Act and section 20 of Indian Telegraph Act.

The Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court in Odisha’s Chhatrapur today granted bail to four Philippines nationals.

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