About 10 people including a minor will undergo inquest proceedings at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office today after being apprehended for trying to transport endangered seashells in Daanbantayan town.
At around 11:30 p.m. last Sunday, 39 sacks containing at least 700 helmet shells or “budyong” were seized by the Provincial Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force from a pumpboat and a truck at the Newport, Daanbantayan.
The shells were reportedly headed for a shell craft factory in Pagsabungan, Mandaue City.
Task Force chief Loy Madrigal corrected his earlier description of the cargo as trumpet shells; they are helmet shells locally called “budyong”.
All crew members came from Esperanza, Masbate province, while the truck driver came from Kawit, Medellin town.
The pumpboat operator and factory owner Antonio Batahoy of Esperanza and truck owner Enrique Borromeo of Liloan town, Cebu, remain at large, Madrigal said.
The crew will be charged with violating Sec. 97 of RA 8550 or the Philippine Fisheries Code.
Possible penalties include a jail sentence of 12 to 20 years and a fine of P120,000 each.
Discernment
Jaybee Binghay of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), said the police will have to establish whether the 16-year-old boy in the case acted with discernment.
If proven that he knew what he was doing was illegal, the boy’s sentence will be suspended until he is of age.
Madrigal, chief of the provincial government’s Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force, pegged the value of the cargo at P500,000 or roughly P12,000 per sack. Each sack contains 10 to 15 shells.
The shells were brought to the Capitol compound yesterday to be secured as evidence for the court case.
The shells will be turned over to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for custody, Madrigal said.