by a crack that ran down the center of its hull. Children turned the boat's toppled masts into monkey bars, played hide-and-seek in its sand-littered hull, and rested atop its cabin under the sunless sky.
But what the Gem-Ver men expected to be a new vessel turned out to be a scrappy hand-me-down. Pengyou was unfit for a return trip to Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea, and its sorry state added to the irritants that made“If they wanted to give us something, they should have called us to look for a boat in good and sturdy condition that we could have used immediately. Something that doesn’t need a lot of spending for repairs,” said Junel Insigne, the former captain of Gem-Ver.
The recycled boat is just one in a thread of instances where top government officials fell short in their effort to assist the fishermen in the aftermath of the most dramatic moment at sea between the Philippines and China. Living in a community where 90% of its residents fished, Delos Reyes was hoping to sell the boat fast. But weeks passed without a buyer and Delos Reyes was already losing money to keep the boat in good condition.
About 298 kilometers away, in Barangay San Roque, Occidental Mindoro, the men of Gem-Ver got word they were to receive a new boat from a Chinese group. The boat, they were told, would finally take them back to Recto Bank, ending months without income. Built in August 2005, it was 17 meters long, 1.6 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep. It had 3 masts, 4 cycles, 6 cylinders. It carried a different name, Marck Paolo – after Delos Reyes’ son who was 3 years old when it was built.
Angered by the deception, Delos Reyes fired his captain and was no longer interested in finding a new one. Instead, he decided to sell Marck Paolo. To look for a boat to donate to the Gem-Ver fishermen, Defensor said she tasked a trusted aide, Gary Nicandro, who in turn sought the expertise of a Navotas shipbuilder named Waldo Punongbayan.
Maite Defensor denied negligence in the purchase. She also disputed claims by Delos Reyes that the boat was already broken before the monsoon hit. She pointed to the boat’s Maritime Industry Authority-issued safety certificate, which indicated that its structure, machine, radio, and “life-saving appliances,” among others, had complied with the government’s safety standards.
Once home, Junel produced a list of 15 essential expenses to repair Pengyou for its maiden voyage to Recto Bank, which included the following: 114 pieces of bamboo, 20 plastic drums to hold potable water, two rolls of 600-meter ropes, styrofoam to store fish, a cooking stove, a gas tank, lumber, fishing gear, and money to rent a bulldozer to haul the ship to the water.Shocked at the cost, Defensor chose not to relay the request to Shanghai Jucheng’s officials.