Okay readers, I went all Walter Winchell on your asses and interviewed Randy by phone and asked every question I could ask and got every answer I could imagine. Here is the nitty gritty:
(1) Randy is charged with illegal fishing by using active fishing gear (nets on winches, apparently) in municipal waters. However, Randy says that this is a charge that can only be brought against foreign-owned fishing vessels. Randy's boat is Filipino-owned, and therefore he says that charge has no merit. When Randy shows up in court with his Filipino father-in-law, and papers showing that his father-in-law owns the boat (Randy never went out on the boat, only his wife), the case will be dismissed.
(2) There are no charges placed for Randy having stolen back his boat from the lumber mill where it was taken, because the city of Gingoog never gave a receipt or any kind of impound papers for taking the boat in the first place. Therefore the boat was never "officially" impounded. (I guess the City of Gingoog realized that these charges would never stick, so they never went after them.) Gold Star Daily's information was apparently mistaken in this aspect.
(3) Now comes the fun part: Randy's boat was never even fishing in Gingoog waters. When the Navy first boarded his vessel, evidently they gave Cherry (Randy's wife, on board) a receipt... an accurate/official one... noting that it was boarded in a place called Magsaysay, more than 20 kilometers away from Gingoog waters. He still has this receipt. When the Navy provided a copy of that receipt to the official record, or whatever, Randy says the receipt had been changed to read Gingoog.
(4) Just to be a prick about it, Randy's lawyer is going to be filing all charges against the Gingoog government in the court in Davao, on the southern tip of the island of Mindanao. (Apparently this is allowed.) Then, every time there is a court hearing, practically the entire city government of Gingoog will have to ride 8 hours each way across the entire island of Mindanao to attend court.
Okay class. Any questions?
p.s. If you'll notice, I've got a "Randy Stirm" tag on all of these blog posts now, so that you can click on that link (or click here) and it will display all of the articles about Randy in order. If you are linking to my blog about Randy, this is the link I would recommend that you use from now on.
lol nice trick, to bad though they can just petition the court to have the case relocated back to Gingoog, can do this without ever going to the court and in all actuality theyd have the request granted. However once again prick boy shows little brain because he will also be forced to make same 8hr trip as well, may be funny first time but get old really fast, not to mention many isolated areas on the way where they could whack the foolish cracker at whim lol.
ReplyDeleteActually, only people who are under subpoena have to show up at court. Randy wouldn't have to make the trip.
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly agree with the concept of trying the case in Davao either... but meh.
Actually shows poor judgement by Randy's attorney to try this harassment tactic. Sort of the type attitude Randy has been displaying all along in this case.
ReplyDeleteWish Randy would seriously get his head together and discuss this case with the officials rather than attack them in court. Jil, if you have any influence as a friend to Randy, advise him talk rather than attack. The evidence is far against the FB Cherry fishing crew, and the wheels of justice will be mighty slow in this case, but will in the end come down against Randy and his wive.
Tell them to discuss and negotiate with the fishery office. There is still time....
Anon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts. I'll certainly pass them along to Randy.