GORDON EMPHASIZES NEED TO IMPROVE MARITIME SAFETY

Cadiz City - July 2, 2008

Senator Richard Gordon visited Cadiz and Victoria City early today to visit fishermen and their families who survived Typhoon Frank's onslaught. In Cadiz, four hundred nineteen fishermen were lost at sea. Two hundred eighty-nine were rescued, forty-one were found dead while eighty-nine are still missing. In Victoria, ten are reportedly missing up to now.

"Several brave fishermen died due to Typhoon Frank. Their death brings sorrow to their relatives and friends. I will send teams to conduct post-mortem interviews and to take identifying marks to ensure that the dead bodies will be properly identified and returned to their families," Gordon said.

"Typhoon Frank was a wake-up call. We must implement measures to prevent the loss of the lives of our fishermen. We must improve our forecasting equipment, our maritime regulations and our rescue facilities to ensure that this tragedy never happens again," Gordon added.

Gordon calls on the National Government to provide the PAG-ASA and the Philippine Coastguard with better equipment and facilities. He suggests that a special bulletin be made exclusively for fishermen to provide them with early warning and reduce the risk of maritime disasters on small fishing vessels.