MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte was urged to protect the Filipino fishermen who were allegedly harassed by the Chinese coast guard at the Scarborough Shoal.
“Instead of taking action to protect our fishermen, the Duterte administration is taking an apathetic stance anew on the harassment and theft by Chinese coast guard,” said the Liberal Party.
It also appears that “government-sponsored troll machinery” is being used “against hapless fishermen of Zambales who had gone through a harrowing experience,” the opposition party said.
Two officials have told The Associated Press that the Philippines intends to raise in a meeting with China, possibly in September, its concern about continuing reports of the Chinese coast guard seizing catches of Filipino fishermen in the disputed waters.
In a meeting in Manila in February, the Philippines also expressed concern to China after receiving a report of Chinese coast guard personnel boarding a Filipino fishing boat at the Scarborough Shoal and taking some of its catch.
Chinese officials at the meeting “took note” of the concerns and promised to look into the reported incidents, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
That internet trolls are calling the Scarborough fishermen involved “liars” and “paid hacks” is “so outrageous,” said LP vice president for external affairs Erin Tañada.
“Fishermen in the country live a hand-to-mouth existence with little help from the government,” Tañada said.
“Abused by the Chinese in the high seas, left without their catch and now attacked by their own government’s propaganda machinery, these Filipino fishermen can expect nothing from a morally bankrupt administration,” he said.
The opposition party official called President Duterte and spokesman Harry Roque “China fanatics.”
China “violated the rules in the traditional fishing grounds” when Chinese nationals stole the catch of Filipino fishermen at the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed West Philippine Sea, the LP said.
“The Duterte administration should show it is not a pushover and take action to protect the interest of the Filipino fishermen,” said Tañada.
Sen. Richard Gordon called on the government to lodge a protest against China.
“We are freedom-loving people. These (fishers) are marginalized people. Why are you doing this to the poor people who are just trying to make a living? This is what makes being friends with China nowadays difficult,” Gordon said.
He also asked the Chinese government to “exercise extreme control over their so-called patrol activities at this common fishing ground so that they won’t resort to thievery.”
A mobile phone video obtained by GMA News showed men in a Chinese coast guard speedboat boarding a Filipino vessel to take some of their catch. The station aired on June 7 a report showing a Chinese man digging through their fish.
A news team from the same station that joined Filipino fishers at the Scarborough Shoal also faced Chinese men who approached their boat for fish. But in that instance the foreigners got nothing as they fishers still had no catch at the time.
Supreme Court Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said the Philippines could file a new case against China for violating a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, on the other hand, suggested that the Philippines draft a United Nations resolution asking China and the international community to abide by the arbitration ruling. (With reports from The Associated Press and Rappler/PN)
