Sen. Francis Tolentino reiterated the need to pass legislation on the country's maritime zones and archipelagic sea lanes following the death of three fishermen whose boat was rammed in Bajo de Masinloc.

Tolentino, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones told reporters on Friday, Oct. 6, that the reason incidents like this happen is because of the lack of an appropriate archipelagic sea lane, which in turn allows any vessel to sail along any path.

"Kung may archipelagic sea lane tayo, mayroon talagang ruta na dadaanan yung mga malalaking vessels at alam nila, alam nung mga maliliit na bangka, mga mangingisda natin na iyon ang daanan puwede rin iwasan (If we have an archipelagic sea lane, there will be a route that bigger vessels can use and our fishermen would know, allowing them to avoid these areas)," he explained.

"Ganon din yung mga malalaking vessels kapag equiped sila sa tamang navigational equipment at ilaw kapag gabi lalo na ito madaling araw ito nangyari (The same goes for huge vessels if they're equipped with the right navigational equipment and lights especially at night since this happened early in the morning)," he added.

As of press time, the senator is on his way to the wake of the three fishermen. He said that he would not be sailing to assess the situation there but he maintained that compared to other countries, the Philippines' sea lane is quite confusing. For other countries, there are only three, but here in the country ships can pass through wherever they please.

Tolentino believes that the freedom of navigation might have been abused since and that's why the lives of fishermen are in peril since they are unaware of the presence of bigger ships in the area.

He added that he would also know from the survivors their own version of what occurred that day and even render legal assistance to those who would want to file charges against the ship owner, the captain, and others who are liable. Tolentino stated that the survivors, as well as the victims' families, can file civil charges.

On the other hand, Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said that he would file a resolution to investigate who is responsible for the fate the three fishermen suffered. He added that as an investigator, one must look at all possible angles and part of this is the idea that the ship may have been registered under a different entity, being used out of anger to purposely attack the fishermen.

The senator said that he is hoping that the incident was merely a plain accident and has no political or geopolitical implications.

For the part of Tolentino, he stated that they should wait for the result of the investigation as they cannot speculate if there is such an angle.

He explained, however, that whether it is a flag carrier, or whether it is registered with other countries or owned by a shipping company of foreign origin, they all have standards to follow.

"Sa tingin ko credible yung lalabas na resulta ng imbesitgasyon ng Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) (I think the result of PCG's investigation will be credible)," he added.