Palau agrees to free RP vessel, crew held in Feb

KOROR, Palau –The Palau government has entered into a settlement agreement with the owner of the Philippine-based fishing carrier that was apprehended by authorities last month, Palau Vice President Elias Camsek Chin said on Monday.

The settlement agreement will be signed between the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) of Palau and the lawyer for the Pescarico vessel, Chin said.

Under the agreement, the owner would pay $15,000 to the Palau government and, in return, no charges would be filed against the detained crew members.

The fishermen who are under the custody of Palau’s Division of Marine Law Enforcement (DMLE) would also be released, still under the conditions stipulated in the agreement.

The DMLE has been holding in its custody five Filipino and five Indonesian crew members since the Pescarico vessel was apprehended last February 21.

Chin said he has already informed Philippine Ambassador Ramoncito Marino about the decision reached by the Ministry of Justice on the case.

Marino, for his part, thanked the Palau government for expediting the case.

Marino has denied that the fishing vessel engaged in illegal fishing in Palau waters.

He has claimed that the vessel was transporting fish from a fishing aggregate device in Indonesia and was returning to General Santos City in the Philippines when it rendezvoused with its mother ship, took in 1,000 liters of fuel and took aboard four crew members who needed to return to General Santos.

Marino said it was impossible for Pescarico to have received fish from the mother ship.

He added that the Pescarico was making a friendly passage through the Palau exclusive economic zone onward to General Santos City when the patrol vessel H.I. Remeliik intercepted the former and ordered it to proceed to Koror. - Joan L. Dairo, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more