Malaysian government to compensate 3 Pinoy fishers

MANILA, Philippines - The Malaysian government will give compensation to three Filipino fishermen abused by the Malaysian Navy after Kuala Lumpur assured the victims that culprits involved in the incident would be punished, Foreign Affairs Secretary Rene Almendras said yesterday.

He said the Malaysian government regrets the incident that triggered action by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur to deal with Malaysian authorities and the Malaysian embassy in Manila.

“They have informed us that they are already in the process of the punishment for the people who did it. In any form whether agitated or not, beating up is not acceptable,” Almendras said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.

The Philippines, he said, has been assured by Malaysia of necessary punishment for the navy personnel for beating up and detaining the Filipino fishermen.

He said the Philippines is monitoring the actions on the naval personnel that were involved in the incident.

Almendras said discussions on compensation for the fishermen are “also in advanced stages.”

A Malaysian naval patrol detained the three fishermen for supposedly encroaching in territorial waters in the disputed Spratlys on May 9.

The Filipino vessel was about 29 kilometers southwest of Commodore Reef, one of nine Philippine-held territories in the South China Sea, when a Malaysian patrol boat intercepted the vessel. 

The fishermen reported being beaten by the Malaysian Navy during interrogation.

Almendras said a protocol has been set up to avoid altercations because incidents regularly happen involving fishermen encroaching on territorial waters.

“So when this incident happened, a protocol was called in. The fishermen were released on the same day. They were not detained overnight; they were released on the same day,” he added.

The incident, he said, will not affect relations between the Philippines and Malaysia.

“The fact that the fishermen were released on the same day and they were returned immediately and there was no cover-up as far as the Malaysian Navy is concerned,” Almendras said. 

Malaysia and the Philippines have overlapping exclusive economic zones in the disputed South China Sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas and is almost entirely claimed by China.