As of Monday morning, one of the nine fishermen reported missing has been found in a state of decomposition on the shore of Palumbanes island in barangay Toytoy, Caramoran.
Based on the tattoo on his arm, the dead man was identified by a relative through the Tabaco CDRRMO as Santino Bordeos, 18, a resident of Tabaco City.
He was aboard a blue motorized banca with yellow lining together with Alvin Naldo, 62, Angelo Naldo, 32, and Pudi Naldo, 37.
His father, Melchor, 51, was on a separate banca, an orange one with blue lining, together with Rafael Idanan, 42, Jeremy Icawat, 22, Noel Basi, 21, and Edwardson Datu, 33.
All the missing, except for Idanan and Icawat who are Balognonan, Pandan residents, are from Tabaco City.
While their families and the authorities in Pandan and Tabaco City hope that the rest are still alive, the length of time that has passed since the fishermen went missing and the inability of the government to mount an aerial search due to the adverse weather conditions mean any chance of finding them alive is slim.
A search of the archives of the Philippine Atmospherical Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) show that no Gale Warning was issued for the eastern coast of Southern Luzon in the morning of Jan. 1, 2025 when the nine fishermen set out from the shore of Balogñonan bound to a fishing ground at a private buoy out in the Pacific Ocean.
During the following four days until Jan. 5, when they were expected to return to the coastal village, no gale warnings were likewise issued by the weather agency.
The twice-daily weather forecasts issued by the weather agency during the period also indicate that from Jan. 1 to 3, the Shear Line was affecting Northern and Central Luzon, while only the easterlies were present in the Bicol region, with coastal waves of 0.6 meters to 2.5 meters and light to moderate winds.
It was only in the morning of Jan. 4 that PAGASA forecast strong to gale force winds and coastal waves of 2.8 to 4.5 meters high in Southern Luzon as the Shear Line made its presence felt.
This adverse weather condition persisted until Jan. 5, the day the nine fishermen were supposed to return to Balogñonan.
Clearly, there is no way they could have known that the weather would turn bad on their last days at the fishing ground.
There is likewise no way for disaster management officials to warn or prevent fishermen from going out to sea in the absence of any reliable short-term forecast or communications technology that can reach them far out at sea.
But there is hope, as Elon Musk’s Starlink has announced plans to introduce Direct-to-Cell, a groundbreaking feature that will use its vast satellite network to allow voice calls on regular smartphones.
This, the company says, would allow anyone to make calls from the remotest corners of the Earth—whether deep in a rainforest, in the middle of the ocean, or across deserts.
The potential impact is immense—not just for adventurers and emergency responders, but also for everyday users in rural or underserved areas where traditional mobile networks struggle to provide consistent service.
Just one such enabled smart cellphone in one motorized banca would be enough to allow weather alerts to be sent by DRRMOs to the fishermen out in the ocean.
But for the meantime, authorities can do nothing, except to provide food assistance to fishermen who will be prohibited from venturing out to sea during bad ocean conditions.
And this should spur anyone, from the congressman to the governor and mayors, to push for the realignment of the AKAP funding to the provision of such food or cash assistance to fishermen to feed their families while they are unable to catch fish.