MANILA – Malacañang denied there was an order summoning Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua to be part of an investigation in the Reed Bank incident.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo on Tuesday said no invitation was extended by President Rodrigo Duterte on Zhao to shed light on Chinese vessel’s bumping of Filipino fishermen’s boat.
“The President, we feel, is not inclined to do that,” Panelo said.
Panelo’s statement was contrary to what Department of National Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday that Zhao was invited as the government started to entertain doubts that the Chinese vessel intentionally rammed the FB GEM-VER.
“Kasi nga nagkakaroon tayo ng konting doubt kung ano ba talaga ang nangyari dun. Unang natanggap ko nun kaya ako nagpalabas is binangga. Nabangga nga talaga pero was it intentional or not,” Lorenzana said.
“Let us put the incident into its proper perspective. Hindi naman ito sponsored by a state na gagawin nila ‘yun eh, initially, ang unang lumabas sa kanila is aksidente,” he added.
Lorenzana said while the official investigation takes place, government will extend assistance to the crew and owner of the GEM-VIR1, acknowledging they had lost their means of livelihood.
Last June 9, a Chinese fishing vessel hit a Philippine fishing boat at Reed Bank and left it there to sink. The 22 Filipino fishermen were rescued by the Vietnamese.
China, through its embassy in Manila, belied claims the fishermen were abandoned and said the captain of its vessel tried to save them but was “afraid of being besieged by other Filipino fishing boats.”
The Reed Bank contains offshore gas reserves that both countries claim ownership of, despite it being located within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone./PN
