PHILIPPINES and Vietnamese defense officials have forged what observers described as a “rare” and unwritten agreement that eliminates “headaches” in arresting fishermen caught fishing in each country’s disputed territorial waters in the South China Sea: The fishermen will just be simply sent back home.
The agreement was reached by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana with his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich during the former’s three-day official visit to Vietnam that likewise boosted the defense cooperation between Hanoi and Manila.
“Our discussion [was that] we will not arrest fishermen, we will just tell them to go back to their area. We will not arrest them, it will just be a headache,” said Lorenzana on Tuesday.
“If you have to arrest them, you have to secure them and feed them. You also have to send them to [the] hospital, and when they go home, they will ask for gasoline [money, so] just send them home,” he added.
Lorenzana said the agreement will form part of the policy between the two countries and need no longer be put into writing.
“It’s okay, they’re very responsive. Because we thought that these fishermen are not actually very rich people. They’re actually just poor fishermen trying to earn a living. So let us not make things hard for them,” the defense chief said.
He recalled that in 2016, four Vietnamese fishing vessels strayed into the waters off Sual in Pangasinan and the government was even forced to provide the gasoline for the four vessels before President Duterte sent them back to Vietnam.
Lorenzana said the policy was among the positive measures that he secured with his counterpart as they discussed the issue of poaching by fishermen from both countries, which is part of their South China Sea discussions.
During his visit, both defense officials also agreed to support and push for the adoption of a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.