San Jose, Occidental Mindoro – The patron of F/B GEM-VER 1, whose scathing statements against President Rody Duterte were feasted on by the critical media, yesterday publicly apologised to the President after admitting that he never received any invitation to a meeting in Malacañang.
“Humihingi po ako ng paumanhin sa ating mahal na Presidente. Hindi po pala ako pinatawag nya. Si Secretary Pinol pala ang nagpatawag sa amin,” Isigne said during the press briefing conducted after I met with them in the house of the boat owner, Arlinda deal Torre.
During the meeting, I asked Isigne whether the media reports saying that he was asked to see the President in Malacanang came from him and whether he received an invitation from the Palace.
He admitted there was no formal invitation and that he only heard that they were invited to Malacanang and assumed that they would see the President.
It was actually the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) National Director, Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, who invited them to Manila so that their needs could be addressed by the Bureau.
He was with boat owner, Dela Torre, and the cook, Richard Blaza, on Sunday on their way to Calapan, Oriental Mindoro where they were supposed to take the ferry boat to Manila when he backed out of the trip.
Isigne said he did not feel well and decided to return to San Jose, a decision which some members of the media interpreted as a refusal to see the President.
His wife also came into the scene with a statement to the media asking the President to come to Mindoro instead.
Yesterday, it was established that there was never any invitation from the Palace for Isigne and the two others.
Isigne also said that his statements critical of the President were out of his anger because they were abandoned by the crew of the Chinese fishing vessel which hit and destroyed his fishing boat in the Recto Bank on June 10.
In spite of the scathing statements from Isigne and his wife, the President and the Palace spokesman never reacted.
Now, it is clear – Isigne was never invited to the Palace but he and the two others were asked to come to the BFAR office last Monday to meet with the Secretary of Agriculture.
(Photos show fishing boat patron Junel Isigne with the Agriculture Secretary beside the F/B GEM-VER and during the press briefing in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. Photos by DA AFID)
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