By Ernie B. Esconde
MARIVELES, Bataan, April 27 (PNA) — A fishing boat skipper from this town told Sunday their ordeal allegedly in the hands of the Chinese at the Scarborough Shoal when their fish catch were confiscated, their boat destroyed by water cannon on April 18 and a Chinese Coast Guard pointed a gun on him.
Valeriano Quimson, 40, boat captain of FB/John Alex, said that on April 12 or a day after they arrived at the Scarborough Shoal from barangay Sisiman here said Chinese Coast Guard carrying long firearms on board a rubber boat confiscated their fish catch from their service banca.
”They confiscated our catch and forcibly pulled our fishing hooks. They threw the fish and fishing hooks to the sea. In the second time, they also got again our catch and fishing hooks but they did threw the fish to the sea and instead put the fish into their rubber boats,” he said.
Quimson said members of the Chinese Coast Guard then boarded the fishing boat.
“One of them pointed a long gun at me,” he said.
He said that after the incidents, they went to the other parts of Scarborough Shoal and noticed that the Chinese Coast Guard seemed to be resting and were not visible in the area for three days.
“In the morning of April 18, I went down from our mother boat and boarded to the service banca to go fishing. However, I saw that the boat of the Chinese Coast Guard was coming. That is why I decided to return, but the service banca got troubled,” the fishing boat captain said.
Other fishing boats were bombarded by water cannon in the afternoon of April 11.
He said that of the 11 fishing crews, only three were left at their mother boat.
”The spray of the water cannon was too strong that thrown away two of my crew and the operator of the steering wheel was also affected. He was also hit by water cannon,” Quimson said.
”All our things, including the generators and appliances were destroyed. Our cellphones and clothes floated into the water,” he said.
Quimson appealed to government to solve the Scarborough case.
“What had happened to our fishermen is so pity as if they were pigs being driven away by the Chinese,” he said.
Quimson arrived in Sisiman at 3 p.m. of Sunday after fishing at Scarborough for more than two weeks.
It took us a long time to go fishing. We went fishing during the night but during daytime we are monitoring because it would be difficult then when the Chinese Coast Guard arrived again,” he said.
However, Quimson said they will keep on coming back to Scarborough because of the poor catch in other fishing grounds and its being a safe place during typhoons. (PNA)