Oil firms increase fuel pump prices

LOCAL pump prices are on the rise this week by over P1 per liter.

This as members of the New Masinloc Fishermen’s Association (NMFA) signed here last Thursday an agreement with the SMC Global Power Holdings Corp Philippines Power Foundation (SMCGP), Inc. for the installation and maintenance of fish aggregating devices in waters off Masinloc. Zambales Second District Rep. Doris Maniquiz, who helped broker the agreement, said the assistance will amount to P909,000, and will be given to the fishermen’s group upon completion of legal requirements.

Under the agreement, NMFA members will handle the installation of FADs, and assume full responsibility in the management, operation, maintenance and monitoring of the project, while SMCGP Foundation shall provide funding.

The Masinloc fishers lost their payao worth P150,000 when a ship carrying coal fuel for the Masinloc power plant ran over their device last January 17.

NMFA president Leonardo N. Cuaresma said they also incurred damages of P360,000 in unrealized income from payao harvest, and about P390,000 from hookand-line fishing by the 36 NMFA members.

With members grounded due to the lost payao, NMFA officials then sought help from local officials and thereafter received legal support from the provincial government for damage claims, as well as P150,000 from Maniquiz last March so that the fishermen could immediately build another payao.

Maniquiz also brought the fishermen’s plight to the attention of SMCGP, owner and operator of the Masinloc Power Plant, and negotiated on their behalf for more assistance.

Atty. Cynthia V. Pantoñal, executive director of SMCGP Foundation, said that while the support was not connected to the loss of the payao caused by a third party, the SMCGP Foundation gave its help because it wanted to establish a partnership with local payao fishermen.

Engr. Roland Cabasal, manager of the Masinloc Power Plant, meanwhile, said his office is willing to help out fisherfolk families in terms of employment opportunities at the power facility.

Cuaresma said the funds from the San Miguel Foundation will help them maintain the four payao devices that members of his group had already installed in the sea off Masinloc.

Some of it will also be used for the completion of a smokehouse for the group’s tinapa-making project, as well as to buy a tricycle for transporting fish products and materials in the community, he added.

Maniquiz, meanwhile, advised the group to use the funds wisely and well. “You should be able to do a lot with this generous assistance, so that our kind donors would go on giving support,” she said.

“Always be thankful, grow your project, be successful and be an example to others,” she added.