Survivor says they now fear fishing near ramming incident site in Pangasinan

One of the survivors of the vessel ramming incident in the waters off Agno, Pangasinan told senators on Thursday that they do not want to fish in the area anymore due to extreme fear.

Michael An shared this at a Senate hearing when asked by Senator Francis Tolentino if they are already prepared to fish in the same area where the incident happened last October 2.

“Hindi ko pa po masabi sa ngayon parang nagkaroon po kami ng mga phobia. Takot po,” An said during the Senate special committee on maritime and admiralty zones’ motu proprio investigation into the incident.

(I cannot say for now. It’s like we already had a phobia after the incident. We are already afraid to go there.)

An was among the 11 fishermen who survived the sea mishap last October 2.

Senior State Counsel Fretti Ganchoon from the Department of Justice said the survivors can claim damages from the owner of MT Pacific Anna for causing them emotional distress.

“In addition to loss of income, we also have actual damage because the ship is a total wreck, total damage and I took note Mr. Michael An stated that they have experienced phobia and they don’t want anymore to go back there. So that’s also emotional damage,” Ganchoon said.

Three fishermen died after being rammed by a foreign commercial vessel in waters west of Pangasinan. Among the fatalities was the captain of the ill-fated FB Dearyn.

At the same hearing, Captain Leo Bolivar, country-representative of Marshall Islands’ Maritime and Corporate Registries said the preliminary investigation on the ramming of a Filipino boat near Pangasinan is currently being concluded.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said that no other vessel went near FB Dearyn at the time other than MT Pacific Anna, an oil tanker registered in the Marshall Islands.

The PCG earlier said appropriate authorities in Singapore, MT Pacific Anna’s next destination port, and Marshall Islands where the ship is registered, have already been notified of the incident and ongoing investigations.

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela previously said initial information would show that the incident “was not deliberate” and it is a mere “accident.”

“We can say na hindi naman ito talaga deliberate. At the same time, the testimony ng ating mga naka-survive na mangingisda, sila rin mismo nagsasabi na in this particular time na nangyari ito masyadong madilim ang area, pangit ang panahon so there is a possibility na hindi sila napansin,” he said last week.

(We can say that the foreign vessel did not deliberately ram the Filipino fishing boat. At the same time, the survivors themselves said that during that time the area was too dark and the weather was bad so there is a possibility that they were not noticed.)

“Ito ay isang aksidente (This is an accident)” he added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News