By Bernadette D. Nicolas M& Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
Recto Bank is “already an exclusive fishing ground to Filipinos,” Malacañang said on Wednesday, as it assured the public that the Philippine government will be posting more Coast Guard personnel to protect Filipinos there.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo made the remarks shortly after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the 22 Filipino fishermen whose boat was rammed by a Chinese vessel on June 9 are asking the President to make representations with Beijing so the Chinese fishing vessel’s crew will be held accountable criminally for abandoning them. They also asked that Recto Bank be the Filipino fishermen’s exclusive fishing grounds.
The Filipino fishermen are also asking the government to help them secure the area.
Sought for reaction by BusinessMirror, Panelo said: “The Chinese government has already assured us that it will impose sanctions on the shipping vessel and its crew if its findings show they are at fault. Sanction should include compensation for the damage done to the Filipino fishermen.”
On the second request, Panelo said, “Reed [Recto] Bank is already an exclusive fishing ground to the Filipinos. We will be posting more Coast Guard [men] to ensure the exclusivity, as well as their safety.”
Nonetheless, Panelo, who is also the chief presidential legal counsel, said the President Duterte will move with finality after acts have been established as to the culpability.
In a separate statement, the Palace spokesman also said government policy and action cannot be based on conjecture, speculation or even emotion.
Panelo was responding to Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s remarks that the government must test America’s compliance with the US-PHL Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
“Before we can invoke our Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, there must first be an act of aggression against us. The facts have yet to be established pointing to the incident as an act of aggression by the Chinese government,” Panelo said.
“Thus, invoking the strong medicine of the MDT at this time when facts about the maritime incident in our exclusive economic zone have not yet been firmly established would not only be imprudent, it would be irresponsible, as well,” he added.
Vietnamese rescuers
Ngo Van Theng, the Vietnamese boat captain, told the VnExpress that a group of 10 Vietnamese fishermen had saved the Filipino fishing crew in distress near Reed Bank.
“The Filipino fishing crew intimated through gestures that their boat was rammed and sank. After the collision, two of them sailed a small boat for more than four hours toward the light emanating from the Vietnamese boat to seek assistance,” read the report.
Asked on the Palace’s take on the perceived similarity of the accounts of Vietnamese and Filipino fishermen on the Recto Bank incident, Panelo said it just “validates the statement of Filipino fishermen that the Vietnamese helped them after the incident, for which we thanked them in my first statement.”
Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana first revealed the June 9 Recto Bank incident on Independence Day, wherein he condemned the abandonment of Filipino fishermen after their vessel sank after allegedly being rammed by a Chinese vessel—a maritime militia boat according to some quarters.
For its part, China has since denied that what happened in Recto Bank was a “hit-and-run” incident.
Meeting with Piñol
Earlier on Wednesday, the 22 Filipino fishermen appealed to the President to make representations with the Chinese government to hold accountable the Chinese fishing crew that rammed their boat last week.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol disclosed that this is one of the two requests by the Filipino fishermen, now called the Recto Bank 22, during their meeting on Wednesday.
The other request was for the Philippine government to ensure that Recto Bank, which is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone, would remain “exclusive” to Filipino fishermen, Piñol said.
Piñol added that he would include the Reed Bank 22’s requests in his report to Duterte.
“Let us not belittle this incident. But, at the same time, let us not overblow this incident to the point of invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty. It’s a maritime incident,” he added.
Piñol distributed 11 fiberglass fishing boats to the Recto Bank 22 and provided each of them with a P25,000 loan to help them with their financial needs. The loan is payable in three years with no collateral and interest rate.