9 Chinese poachers convicted in Palawan

MANILA, Philippines - Nine Chinese fishermen were convicted yesterday of poaching and taking hundreds of endangered giant sea turtles from Hasa-Hasa Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

Judge Ambrosio de Luna of the Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court Branch 51 ordered the fishermen to pay a fine of $100,000 (P4.3 million) each for poaching in Philippine waters plus P120,000 ($2,666) each for taking wildlife.

The judgment was handed down amid protests from Beijing that the waters where the fishermen were apprehended belonged to China.

Convicted of violating the Philippine Fisheries Code and the Wildlife Resources Conservation Act were skipper Chen Yi Quan, chief engineer Chen Ze Hao and crewmen Shi Xian Xiong, Shi Liang Duong, He Chuan, Huang Ji Xuan, He Sheng Bao, He Yuan Cheng and Lu Chuan Fang.

Palawan Provincial Prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez explained that the fines imposed for poaching were in dollars because the Philippines had adopted the provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

For the other offenses, they were fined in pesos, he added.

Clerk of court Hazel Alaska said the nine could have been imprisoned for up to 20 years, but that the court decided to impose only a fine.

In case they fail to pay the fine, they will have to serve a maximum of six months in jail for each of the two cases, or a total of one year, she added.

Alaska said the fishermen will be released from the provincial jail once the fines are settled.

However, if they fail to pay the fine, the time spent in detention since their arrest May 6 can be counted and they can be released by next May, she added.

Rodriguez said maritime police caught the nine poaching near Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal last April.

More than 350 live and dead turtles were found in their possession, he added.

Rodriguez said it was up to the court whether to impose a fine or imprisonment.

“There was no imprisonment, but there is a condition that in case of nonpayment of fine, there would be a subsidiary of imprisonment,” he said.

The nine will be detained at the Palawan Provincial Jail while awaiting the payment of their fines. – With AP