Fisherfolk want gov’t to take more concrete action in WPS

A China Coast Guard ship monitors Filipino fishermen aboard their wooden boats in this photo taken on May 16, 2024. —photo by Ted Aljibe/Agence-France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines — The leader of a group of Filipino fisherfolk exposed to China’s frequent harassment in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) has urged the government to take more concrete action to allow them to fish freely.

“For us to be able to tell the world that the West Philippine Sea is ours, we must get rid of the China Coast Guard and Chinese Navy ships patrolling in our territory,” Randy Megu told the Inquirer on Tuesday after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Megu, the president of Bigkis ng Mangingisda Federation, a group of fishermen from Zambales, Pangasinan, Bataan and Palawan provinces, said that while they appreciated the President’s assertion of the country’s maritime rights in the WPS, they found it lacking.

READ: Zambales fishers defy China’s trespass rule

The fisherman from Infanta town in Pangasinan said that China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels and Chinese warships continue to swarm the vicinity of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

The resource-rich shoal, which has been controlled by Beijing since 2012 is about 220 kilometers west of Zambales province, well within the Philippines’ 370-km exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In his Sona on Monday, Marcos lauded Filipino fishermen in the WPS for their “vigilance and sacrifice” and said the country would not yield or waver in its maritime claims in the South China Sea.

“The West Philippine Sea is not a figment of our imagination; this is ours, and will continue to be so for as long as the spirit of our love for country lives on in all of us,” he said.

Regular patrols pushed

Megu reiterated his call for the President to fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and enforce the 2016 arbitral ruling “to restore the freedom of Filipino fishermen to fish in any shoal within our EEZ.”

He also pushed for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Philippine Navy to conduct regular patrols in the WPS.

On Tuesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said the number of Chinese vessels in the WPS has gone down to 80, including two Chinese warships at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, from July 16 to July 22.

A total of 105 Chinese vessels were monitored from July 9 to July 15.

The AFP said three CCG vessels and seven Chinese maritime militia ships remain at Panatag.

There were four CCG ships spotted at Ayungin, one in the vicinity of Pag-asa Islands, and one at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal.

The world’s largest coast guard ship owned by China, nicknamed “The Monster,” has been anchored at Escoda since July 3, maintaining a distance of about 580 meters from the PCG’s BRP Teresa Magbanua, which has been stationed in the area since April.

Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Philippine Navy spokesperson for the WPS, earlier said it remains to be seen whether the drop in the number of Chinese vessels in the area was related to the last bilateral meeting between Manila and Beijing, which sought to de-escalate tensions arising over the latter’s growing aggressiveness in the WPS.