Madrigal is back, arrests boat crew in D’bantayan

MADRIGAL CDN File Photo

After he was forced to resign as chief of security from the Cebu provincial government following several controversies, Loy Anthony Madrigal is back on the trail of illegal fishers in north Cebu.

Madrigal led a team of Bantay Dagat members from the towns of Sta. Fe, Daanbantayan and San Remigio last Monday dawn, which led to the arrest of 55 crew members aboard two fishing vessels.

The vessels were casting their nets in Daanbantayan’s municipal waters.

Based on the spot report from Daanbantayan police, 215 buckets of fish fish were recovered from the vessels near Isla De Gato, FV John Patrick 858 and FB Dan Anton, along with fishing gear.

In a phone interview, Madrigal confirmed leading the sea operation. He said he was recently appointed a member of Sta. Fe’s Bantay Dagat or sea watch patrol.

He said he was also “authorized by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-7) in the region” to facilitate the operation.

“I gave in to the plea of the small fishermen who were complaining to me about the return of rampant illegal fishing,” he told Cebu Daily News.

“Aside from that, I can still exercise a citizen’s arrest.”

The operation also had the “go-signal” from the Daanbantayan municipal government, with Mayor Augusto Corro saying he does not see anything wrong with Madrigal’s participation in the arrest.

Madrigal stepped down as head of Capitol security last month after photos of him and his married secretary were posted on Facebook, exposing their relationship and prompting Gov. Hilario Davide III to ask for his resignation on the basis of a “moral issue”.

When Madrigal’s service vehicle soon after hit a motorcycle in Bogo City, killing the driver and seriously injuring his wife on board, the pressure for him to quit also increased.

Mayor Corro said it was the head of their Bantay Dagat, barangay Logon councilor Servidio Panares, who first told him about Madrigal’s participation in the operations.

“He told me they were getting help from Loy. In fact, I really thought about it and gave them my go signal,” explained the mayor.

However, not everyone is happy with Madrigal’s return on the anti-illegal fishing scene.

Ret. Col. Romeo Tapayan who functions as the overall coordinator of the Capitol task force on illegal fishing said he was surprised that Madrigal did not inform him about the operations.

“Even the governor, when I informed him about it, was shocked,” said Tapayan, who went to the Daanbantayan police station to get a copy of the spot report.

He said he asked for the confiscated fish to be turned over to the Cebu provincial jail but Mayor Corro did not approve his request.

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