Fishers exposed to China rule raise PH flag in WPS

FLAG OF RESISTANCE A fisherman waves the Philippine flag near a “payao,” or artificial reef close to Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the West Philippines Sea to display resistance to Chinese incursions and to show other foreign vessels passing through the area that these waters are part of the country’s exclusive economic zone. —photo from Bigkis

MANILA, Philippines — A group of Filipino fishermen displayed the Philippine flag close to Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal days ahead of the country’s 126th Independence Day and the June 15 implementation of a new China policy authorizing its coast guard to arrest foreign persons and ships that cross what it claims are its borders in the South China Sea.

The Bigkis ng Mangingisda Federation, a group of fishermen from Zambales, Pangasinan, Bataan and Palawan provinces, said in a statement that a convoy of more than 20 fishing boats had sailed to Panatag, also called Bajo de Masinloc, or BDM, on June 1.

READ: Zambales fishers defy China ban in West Philippine Sea

‘Call to action’

Panatag, a resource-rich shoal controlled by China for the past 12 years, is about 220 kilometers west of Zambales province, well-within the Philippines’ 370-km exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In its Independence Day statement, Bigkis said they raised and waved the Philippine flag when their boats were about 55 km from Panatag “to show resistance to China’s incursions and to defend Philippine sovereign rights” over its EEZ.

Bigkis said some of the fishers went northward to their “payaos,” or artificial reefs used to attract and catch fish, while others sailed southwest to their own payaos near the shoal, one of the Filipinos’ traditional fishing grounds.

A fisherman on one of the boats in the convoy unfurled a Philippine flag to show foreign vessels, especially Chinese, sailing through the area that the West Philippine Sea (WPS) belongs to the Philippines.

Bigkis president Randy Megu, who led the convoy, said “the Chinese have no right to the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.”

Dwindling catch and income

“Before leaving the BDM, we again waved the Philippine flag on our boat and reiterated our demand—a call to action to the Philippine government to promote, protect and defend our rights in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

In a phone interview with the Inquirer on Wednesday, Megu said many of them fear the possible arrest and detention of Filipinos under China’s new regulations on illegal border crossing in areas that it claimed in the West Philippines Sea.

He said that the fishermen were also worried that their catch and income would dwindle.

He urged the government to increase maritime patrols by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Philippine Navy to protect Filipino fishermen, especially at Bajo de Masinloc.

“If China will implement their new policy, I think we will postpone our fishing activities in Bajo de Masinloc because it will be a problem if we get arrested by the Chinese coast guard or the Chinese Navy and then they will prosecute us in China. That will be very difficult,” Megu said.

But Henrelito Empoc, spokesperson for Bigkis, said they would still have to fish in the West Philippine Sea despite the threat to arrest trespassers.

“There’s fear among us but we have to continue our fishing because this is our livelihood and this is for our families,” he told the Inquirer in a text message.

Hunger and impoverishment

Bigkis is pressing the government to bring Manila’s maritime dispute with China “to an international legal body for conflict mitigation.”

According to Bigkis, local fishermen and their families are “enduring further hunger and impoverishment” due to Chinese harassment in the West Philippine Sea.

They urged the Philippine government to demand an apology from China, saying that under the United Nations-sanctioned economic, social and cultural rights, Beijing had an “extra territorial obligation to pay for all the accumulated damage to the Philippine marine environment.”

They also called for the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and enforcement of the 2016 arbitral ruling “to allow Filipino fishermen to fish freely within the BDM and other parts of the WPS without Chinese interference.”

The 2016 ruling, which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea, declared BDM as a common fishing ground for Filipinos, Chinese and Vietnamese.

The Chinese seized the shoal after a two-month standoff with the Philippine Navy in 2012 and had since then controlled access to the area and prohibited entry to the lagoon, a rich fishing ground and a shelter during storms.

More protection

Bigkis also wanted more protection from the PCG and BFAR and government economic support to affected fishermen in the WPS.

In his Independence Day message, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said defending Manila’s sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea “remains a paramount priority.”

“We stand firm in upholding the 2016 Arbitral Award and adhere to a rules-based international order to ensure our maritime entitlements are respected,” Año said.

The quest for peace and security, according to him, remains at the forefront of the government’s national agenda.

“We work tirelessly to ensure the safety and well-being of every Filipino, countering both internal and external threats to uphold our nation’s sovereignty and freedoms,” he said.

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, spokesperson for the Philippine Navy, said China was an intruder in the Philippines’ EEZ and should leave, instead of demanding that the Philippines ask its permission for any resupply mission it intended to conduct within its own waters.

“In the first place, China does not have any right to be inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. They are the ones intruding, so they should not be there; yet, is it not ridiculous for them to demand that the Philippines asks their permission?” he said.

Trinidad confirmed reports of an increased number of People’s Liberation Army Navy warships in the West Philippine Sea from June 4 to June 10.

But the Navy spokesperson said the reported increase in the number of ships from China’s South Sea Fleet was not yet alarming.

“What will be concerning is they would deploy warships from their other fleets such as the East Sea Fleet or the North Sea Fleet. But so far, this increase in number is still within our acceptable limits,” he said.

Citing open-source references, Trinidad said China’s South Sea Fleet could muster a total of 75 to 80 ships and submarines.

“If we factor in their deployment all over the South China Sea and maritime Southeast Asia, we could get a ballpark figure how many warships they can manage to surge into our exclusive economic zone,” he said. —with a report from Melvin Gascon