Attention: ATTY.

CHISTOPHER RYAN MARANAN

Re: Summary on the apprehension of Luz Maria Fleet for commercial fishing within Municipal Waters

A crew of four Navy Seals and a DENR Officer patrolled the seas to apprehend Commercial fishing
boats for operating within Municipal Waters1.

The crew caught the fleet of Luz Maria, comprising of 15 commercial fishing boats, illegally
operating within the 15-kilometer Municipal Water. The crew approached the said fleet to talk to its
Captain. On board the Luz Maria, Pete informed the Captain that they are currently operating 5 kilometers
away from the islands of Coloctan and they were trespassing Municipal Waters. The crew disembarked
from the ship to approach another (Luz Maria 17) which they thought housed the Operations Manager,
Sonny Lazaro. However, upon talking to the Captain of the second ship, Eriño Espina, they found out that
the Operations Manager was actually on board Carrier 14, a transport ship. They informed the second
captain about the Fleet’s trespass in Municipal Waters, Captain Espina, then, informed them that all
operations halted upon the advice of the first Captain. Captain Espina was made to sign what appears to
be an affidavit before the crew debarked Luz Maria 17.

The crew traversed the seas to locate a Carrier Boat of the Luz Maria Fleet. Luz Maria-L-2 was
videotaped hauling and loading a net full of Galunggong into the ship. The crew then boarded Luz Maria-
L-2, where they witnessed the ship workers transferring fishes into buckets that were to be placed in the
cargo storage full of ice. The crew informed the Operations Manager of the situation, the latter admitted
that they thought they were operating outside Municipal Waters and promised that they will avoid
operating in the area. As per the Pete Bethune’s estimate, the total catch contained of the fleet per day
is approximately 60 tons.

The Luz Maria Fleet is owned by Benjamin Lazaro. The Fleet has 6 Light Boats, 3 Sonar Boats, 3
Carriers Boats and 3 smaller boats.

1
IRR of RA 8550, also known as “The Philippine Fisheries Code”, defines Municipal Waters as:
“Section 4. Definition of Terms. x x x 58. Municipal waters - include not only streams, lakes, inland bodies of
water and tidal waters within the municipality which are not included within the protected areas as defined
under Republic Act No. 7586 (The NIPAS Law), public forest, timber lands, forest reserves or fishery
reserves, but also marine waters included between two (2) lines drawn perpendicular to the general
coastline from points where the boundary lines of the municipality touch the sea at low tide and a third line
parallel with the general coastline including offshore islands and fifteen (15) kilometers from such
coastline.”