San Jose, Occidental Mindoro – Nine days after they almost lost their lives after a Chinese vessel rammed their fishing boat in the Recto Bank, 22 fishermen could now look forward to a better life.
In simple ceremonies today, the fishermen received assistance on orders of President Rody Duterte from three agencies of government – the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development ( DSWD) and Department of Energy whose Secretary is the Cabinet Officer for the MIMAROPA Region.
The owner of the damaged fishing boat, F/B GEM-VER 1 will also get government funds to help her repair the fishing boat and recover her losses.
The fishermen received the following assistance:
1. From the DA Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) 12 Fiberglass Fishing Boats complete with engine and fishing gears and one sack of rice each;
2. From the DA Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), P25,000 each as emergency cash assistance;
3. From DSWD, P10,000 cash each, scholarships for their children and two food packs each;
4. From Sec. Cusi of DOE and CORDS Region IV-B, P10,000 cash each.
5. Livelihood projects from the DA Regional Office and DA BFAR MIMAROPA.
During the last Cabinet Economic and Security Clusters Committee meeting last Monday, the DA was tasked to lead a government group to assist the fishermen who figured in the Recto Bank maritime incident on June 10.
(Photos of today’ activities in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro were taken by the Biyaheng Bukid team of DA AFID.)
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