Government officials are proposing a P35-million livelihood assistance for 1,500 fishermen who have lost their means of earning in the wake of the fish ban in San Fernando, Romblon, where a passenger ship capsized during a strong typhoon.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the cash assistance would last for three months, the same period when the MV Princess of the Stars is expected to be retrieved off the waters off Sibuyan Island.

Experts have been taking water samples from inside the sunken ship and around its perimeter to test for possible endosulfan contamination. The Department of Health  had earlier recommended to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources a temporary ban on the harvest, sale and consumption of fish and other marine products from San Fernando following the discovery of 10 metric tons of endosulfan, a pesticide, from the ship’s cargo area.

Four other toxic pesticides—methamidophos, niclosamide, propineb and carbofuran—were also found inside the capsized vessel. “We just need to monitor the water for possible contamination every day until the ship gets refloated,” Duque said in a press briefing Thursday in his office.

Duque said he and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap will propose to Malacañang to release P35 million to subsidize San Fernando’s fishermen while the ban is still in place. Each fisherfolk is expected to receive about P16,500 a month from the government assistance, according to the health chief.

Duque also called on Sulpicio Lines Inc. to show its corporate social responsibility by offering financial help to San Fernando’s fishing community. “They should proactively approach the affected fisherfolk families and see how to mitigate their dilemma,” he said.

Duque said that while water samples taken from San Fernando were clear from contamination, the area will remain under quarantine as a “precautionary measure” until all drums containing pesticides are retrieved.

Dr. Lyn Panganiban, chief of the University of the Philippines poison- control center, said experts will also test the area’s water for the four other chemicals stored in the ship.  Among the four pesticides, methamidophos and carbofuran are the most toxic, according to her. 

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