More than 100 seashell gatherers in Silay City, Negros Occidental cried harassment against a fishery official who arrested them March 2 and 13 for allegedly violating a local ordinance which bans gathering angel wings or diwal. In a press conference yesterday, the gatherers' lawyer Janus Jarder said the ordinance only bans the use of fishing gears and fishing sans permit from the local government unit. The complainants' spokesperson Ricardo Baylosis told journalists the arrest of the seashell gatherers was baseless.

Arrest of more than 100 sea shells pickers illegal. (2010, March 16). The Daily Guardian, p. 4.