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

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