BAGAC, Bataan- The southwest monsoon or habagat induced by Typhoon Jose on Tuesday continued to trigger big waves along the West Philippines Sea, depriving fishermen and beach resorts here of their livelihood.
Some fishermen gathered plastic bottles and other saleable items from garbage spewed by big waves on the shore adjacent to what used to be called the South China Sea.
Fishing bancas were placed on safer ground to avoid destruction by giant waves from the turbulent sea. Fisherman Jon-Jon Diaz was cleaning fish he called “aligasin” caught near the shore for their lunch. “Tatlong araw na kaming hindi makapalaot dahil malakas ang hangin, malalaki ang alon at maulan. Malaking epekto sa kabuhayan namin itong bagyo,” Diaz said.
He said that some fishermen go fishing using “dala” or small net only at the shallow portion of the shore. “Ang ibang mangingisda nangunguha ng plastic bottle at ibang pwedeng ipagbili mula sa mga basurang dinadala ng mga alon para may pambili ng bigas,” the fisherman said.
He said that parts of trees from the wastes spewed by the waves were gathered, later to be turned into charcoal.
Different types of garbage littered the shore of Barangay Pag-asa in Bagac that Diaz said came from Manila Bay pushed to the West Philippines Sea. “Mula nang pumasok si Jose, wala nang income ang aming beach resort dahil malakas ang hangin at pangit ang dagat,” said Daddy’s Beach House caretaker Chona Correa.
She said that they had no visitor since Saturday. “Nangyayari ito sa halos lahat ng beach resorts sa Bagac na nasa tabi nitong dagat,” she said. A check with Vivian Loreto of the office of Bagac Mayor Ramil del Rosario showed that there are 21 registered beach resorts, excluding the famous Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, in the mountain town.
Municipal administrator Nicanor Ancheta said that per directive of Mayor del Rosario, all involved in disaster-preparedness were ready for any eventuality.
