Indonesia repatriates 77 Pinoy fishermen

DAVAO CITY – At least 77 Filipino fishermen arrived here last Saturday after they were repatriated from Indonesia where they were arrested and detained for illegally encroaching into Indonesian territorial waters.

The fishermen arrived on board BRP Cebu, a Philippine Navy ship that took part in the just concluded joint border patrol exercise with the Indonesian Navy in the Celebes Sea.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said at least 62 other Filipino fishermen are still detained in the port city of Bitung in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The 62 fishermen will be sent home only after the Philippine consulate in Manado completes their repatriation and other pertinent papers.

According to the DFA, the fishermen, who hail from General Santos City and Sarangani, were crew members of at least 12 pumpboats registered in Southern Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Philippine and Indonesian authorities are drawing up mechanisms to minimize, if not totally eradicate, the perennial problem of illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.

Indonesian authorities have been complaining they no longer have sufficient funds to feed the growing number of Filipino fishermen caught illegally fishing in their waters.

"We have to send these Filipino fishermen home as soon as possible because we do not have the money to feed them," a ranking Indonesian naval officer told The STAR during the recent Joint Border Committee meeting held in Manado.

Indonesian officials also claimed that most of the Filipino fishermen have been arrested several times. "They keep coming back to Indonesia and we keep arresting them," the same Indonesian naval officer said.

Some 300 Filipino-owned fishing boats have reportedly been left to rot in the port city of Bitung as Indonesian authorities refused to turn them over to the repatriated fishermen.