Hundreds lost in a perfect storm
(Edwin Espejo, a journalist and
blogger for Asian Correspondent in the southern Mindanao city of General Santos
City, was the first to break the story of hundreds of missing Filipino tuna
fishermen, lost in the stories of other tragedies. This is excerpted from his
original report.)
It is a mark of the Filipino
preoccupation with its favorite son, welterweight boxer Manny Pacquiao, that
television stations devoted a full half hour of news to his shock knockout by
the Mexican boxer Juan Manual Marquez dominated the news.
Buried in the news later was the
pain and anguish that are tearing apart families and loved ones of more than
300 tuna fishermen – from Pacquiao’s home town of General Santos City – who are
still missing a week after Typhoon Pablo made a landfall. Many of the wives and
mothers may be resigned to the fact that they will never see their loved ones
again. Some 46 fishing vessels are reported missing and that may not be all.
Some relatives said their kin hadn’t been registered as on the tuna boats.
The fate of the missing tuna
fishermen has gone largely unnoticed, buried by the stirring images of Pablo’s
victims in other parts of Mindanao. There are no bodies of dead fishermen to
talk about, only few survivors to tell their harrowing ordeals. But as with
relatives of the typhoon victims in Davao and Surigao, they also refuse to
believe their loved ones are dead. Others who are willing to accept their fates
want to give their dead a decent burial where they can pay homage.
The typhoon was predicted to make
a landfall on Dec 3. On the morning of Dec. 4, worried ship fleet owners began
spreading the news that they had lost radio communications with their catcher
vessels.
The next day, Dec. 5, former
fishermen’s association president Marfenio Tan told the Philippine delegation
that six catcher vessels were confirmed missing and as many as 300 fishermen
had been lost. Tan was making frantic calls to the Philippine Coast Guard and
the Philippine Navy where he is a reserve commodore (a one-star rank general).
Tan was told that neither the
coast guard nor the navy had the capability to launch a search and rescue
operation so far away in such a wide area without imperiling the lives of their
crew. At the time, the high seas in the area were still dangerous for light
vessels. Coast Guard Eastern Mindanao chief Commodore George Ursabia said three
of their floating assets were still on their way to Davao from Zamboanga while
the Philippine Navy had already deployed a ship to begin the search rescue
mission. But he said it wouldn’t be until Dec. 8 when the Philippine Navy ship
would be anywhere near where the last sighting of survivors was reported.
However, he said three more
bodies had been plucked out of the sea by a passing supply vessel F/B Atlantis.
A couple of nautical miles ahead, the crew of the passing vessels found 13
survivors.
Perfect storm
It is easy to blame greed for the
alleged failure of vessel owners to recall all their fishing fleets in the area
or put the blame on the Philippine Coast Guard for allowing them to set sail
even with the impending storm warning. But most of these fishing boats were
already out in the open seas weeks before the storm developed into a super
typhoon.
Medium-sized purse seines (the
category of all of the missing boats) can stay up to six months in the open
seas, regularly receiving fuel and food supplies from carrier ships. Nobody
expected the storm to be the perfect one.
A survivor who did not wish to be
named said waves more than three stories high slammed onto his outrigger
handline tuna fishing boat. He refused to give further details, saying the tragedy
that claimed some of his companions is still too grim to be retold.
Light boat operator Montgomery
Montealegre, whose son Mark Gil is still missing, said their fish carrier
loaded with fish left the mother boat (catcher vessel on Nov. 30) some 302 kilometers
off Baganga. The mother boat owned by LPS Fishing was to follow the following
day.
Montealegre reached the port of
Mati on Dec. 2, expecting his son to dock in the same port for refueling before
heading back to General Santos City the following day. They have not made it by
Dec. 11, more than a week after Pablo made a landfall. He and his wife have
been trekking daily to the command center of Task Force Maritime Search set up
at the adjacent wing of the General Santos City Police Office in Camp Lira.
Tan said most of the missing
boats were caught in the middle of the storm at dawn of Dec. 3 when most radio
communications in their base companies were either unmanned or had been turned
off.
Tuna handline fishermen Roberto
Suarez, 45, of Mangagoy, Surigao del Sur is still very weak in the intensive
care unit (ICU) at the General Santos City Doctors Hospital - his doctors
refused a request for an interview.
Suarez was the operator of an
outrigger boat with a crew of 12 others that included a son, a brother and a
brother in law and several nephews. He lost younger brother Edgardo, according
to the brother Gilbert who cannot seem to accept the fate of his missing
sibling.
Roberto suffered injuries in his
chest and right thigh. Dr. Mario Dideles said his kidneys shut down in the
three days that he laid on a small fishing boat which his son found after the
storm subsided. His kidneys are recovering but four of his fingers may have to
be cut off due to gangrene.
Tan believed many of the
fishermen, despite receiving advice to seek shelter, may have underestimated
the wrath of Pablo.
306 missing and still counting
Task Force Maritime Search
operations chief Cmdr Lued Lincunan said they have officially listed 306
fishermen missing from General Santos City and nearby Sarangani alone. Lincunan
fears the number could rise as several complainants claimed to have relatives
on board the missing boats but were not in the official list of crew members
supplied by their owners. In addition, there are also reports of missing tuna
handline fishing boats.
Lincunan also said most of the
fishermen rescued by General Santos City-based fishing vessels were from Davao
Oriental and Surigao del Sur.
The city social welfare and
development office said at least 15 rescued fishermen were already sent back
home. The white board inside the task force operations center has listed 6
already confirmed dead and only 4 rescued fishermen from General Santos City so
far.
Lincunan said there have been
reports of sightings, one by a tuna handline fisherman who said he saw a mother
boat and a light boat between 3 to 4pm on Dec. 4, a day after the storm made
landfall, buoying the spirits of relatives who are trooping to the operations
since Day 1 hoping to hear any glimmer of hope from rescuers.
Lincunan said three Philippine
Navy vessels are already scouring the areas where the missing vehicles last
gave their coordinates. Two Islander planes from the Philippine Navy are also
on reconnaissance mission searching for possible survivors.
“We are still on a search and
rescue mission,” Lincunan said with cautious optimism.
Gingging Cabardos (husband Nestor
Cabardos), Rubi Quelnat (husband Frederick), Maria Tarranza (brother Gener)
were huddled together with Maria Fe Montealegre waiting for any hint of good
news when this writer approached them just outside the operations center. They
are praying all their husbands are still alive somewhere out there.
Edwin Espejo
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