PCG, MARINA urge enhanced skills for Pinoy fishers in wake of Recto Bank incident

The Philippine Coast Guard and the Maritime Industry Authority have recommended that Filipino fishermen be better informed and trained in the wake of the Recto Bank incident in which a Chinese vessel rammed into a stationary Philippine boat more than two weeks ago.

According to Chino Gaston's report on "24 Oras", the proposal is included in the maritime casualty investigation by the two agencies tasked to look into the ramming that left 22 fishermen hapless at sea before Vietnamese fishers came to rescue them a few hours later.

"The plan is really to put up a campaign to educate them to the grass root because this is what is needed," Transportation Undersecretary Fernando Juan Perez, the officer-in-charge for maritime affairs, said.

The transportation official said there changes were needed in the regulations governing the fishing industry and these have been included in the report already submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Officials of both the Department of Transportation—the agency that oversees the PCG—and MARINA would not give details as regards their findings and the contents of their report.

A MARINA official said all of the 22 fishermen in the Recto Bank incident were interviewed in the joint investigation by the two agencies.

"We have submitted already our joint investigation... that is in accordance with the international casualty investigation code," MARINA officer-in-charge Narciso Vingson Jr. said.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources suggested that transponders be installed in all Philippine fishing boats in the West Philippine Sea.

"We could have given a faster info kung mayroon na tayong ganoon. We are implementing that before the end of the year. Ibibigay namin sa mga fishing vessel," Undersecretary Eduardo Gongonga said. —NB, GMA News