Compensation owed to Gem-Ver 1 crew is justice owed to the Filipino people

For the people of San Jose in Oriental Mindoro, traversing the seas is a birthright.

In a coastal province where 70 percent of the people are engaged in agriculture and fishing, the days often begin with sun-creased fishermen fiddling with hooks and lines, the women drying seaweeds along the shore, and children playing with idle outriggers.

Life seems to be simple and good, but talks among the residents reveal a growing fear of the ocean where they have anchored their lives so well.

Chinese vessels in their fishing grounds — near the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea — have steadily increased, the fishers said, as well as the frequency of these foreigners’ visits.

Since the tragic sinking of Gem-Ver 1 — the infamous fishing boat that put the community in the face of national news — the boat’s owner, Fhaye Dela Torre, said some of the residents shifted to other livelihoods for fear of being harassed by the Chinese, or worse, of getting killed.

In fact, seven of the 22 fishermen who were aboard Gem-Ver 1 during that fateful incident in 2019 have not gone back to the deep sea, she added, including the youngest crew member JP Gordiones whose wife had just given birth to their first-born daughter then.

Gordiones, who used to earn a decent living from joining weeks-long fishing trips, has been supporting his family through “pangangawil” or small-scale fishing near the municipal waters, while the others turned to construction.

With a sheepish voice, Dela Torre said this is why she continues to ask the government for just compensation not only for her family but for their entire crew.

“We haven’t gotten any update from the government but we’ve read on the news that we can file for compensation, and so we did,” she said in Filipino. “We’re hoping that the authorities can speed up the process to help us.”

Owners of the Chinese fishing vessel that rammed Gem-Ver 1, the Guangdong Fishery Mutual Insurance Association, have already been informed of the request for compensation at P12 million, but they have yet to respond with a counter-proposal.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the figure already covers the repair of the boat, the lost income incurred during the six months it took to repair, as well as moral damages.

The 22 crew members were abandoned at sea by the Chinese trawler for at least two hours before they were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat.

“The money will be a big help for us, especially with the pandemic. Some of the fishers have been traumatized and are not the same since… We just want everyone to get by,” Dela Torre said.

Those who continue to sail do so with a heavy burden upon them.

“It’s not because they are not scared,” said Romel Calingasan, Oriental Mindoro’s municipal agriculture officer. “But the need to provide for their family is stronger.”

It was only two weeks ago when the Gem-Ver 1 crew finished its recent expedition near the Spratly Islands. According to fishermen’s accounts, there was a growing number of Chinese vessels stationed in the area.

The crew members said they just steered clear of these trawlers to avoid trouble, even if it meant longer nights out at sea and deeper waters to venture into to bring home enough catch.

“That’s really one thing we observed. Fishers have to go farther and stay longer than usual,” Calingasan said.

“Before, it takes them two weeks until they are able to fill their boat with fish, and they stay near the border of Mindoro and Palawan. But now, they said there’s nothing left. They have to go farther into the West Philippine Sea and it takes them 20 days or more to fill their boat,” he added.

Last May, units of the country’s naval forces rescued 31 fishermen off Nares Bank after their captain, Jofel Alipustain, reported a “hull derangement” in one of their fishing boats. They were also from San Jose.

“The just compensation owed to the crew members and owners of Gem-Ver 1 is bigger than them. It is justice owed to the Filipino people,” said Fernando Hicap, national chair of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya). “Failure to get the compensation means the Philippines is welcoming China’s atrocities — the unregulated and illegal fishing, the harassment of our fishers, the outright claim that they have full control of the Scarborough Islands.”

But the Gem-Ver 1 crew is not the only one in need of money. The local fisheries sector also remains underfunded, leaving Filipino fishers exposed to the growing aggression of China.

Even with efforts to beef up the country’s naval arsenal, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the growing armada of Chinese vessels that continue to plunder the West Philippine Sea.

Just recently, over 200 Chinese vessels, estimated to be 60 meters long, were reported anchored near the country’s Julian Felipe Reef. These ships are bigger than the government’s own multi-mission offshore vessels that are being used to patrol the area.

According to Asis Perez, former director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, billions-worth of marine life have already been cast by the fleet.

A study conducted by Oceana Philippine showed that many coastal communities depend on the West Philippine Sea for their economy, food, and livelihood.

Considering that more than half of the population lives along the coast, its degradation and exploitation are major food security threats.

“Because reef fisheries are under-reported or under-monitored, they are also typically under-managed and unregulated,” the study said. “There is an urgent need to implement protective management measures that will address continued habitat degradation and overexploitation if productivity were to be maintained and sustained.”

With the continued presence of Chinese vessels in local fishers’ traditional fishing grounds, like Gordiones, many are forced to stay in their respective municipal waters to catch juvenile fish that offers lesser income and poses another threat to the country’s fish supply.

“The weak stance of this administration to China will only continue to embolden them and it is the fishers who are the first collateral. It will not be surprising if there will be other Filipinos in the future who will suffer Gem-Ver’s fate,” said Hicap.