Say will go on fishing at Scarborough Shoal
AN association of fishermen in Zambales yesterday vowed to continue fishing at the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal despite China’s impending implementation of a regulation that authorizes it to arrest foreigners crossing its borders, including in the South China Sea.
The New Masinloc Fishermen Association also urged government to step up patrols at the area of Scarborough Shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal, to counter the regulation which will reportedly take effect on June 15.
President Marcos Jr on Saturday called the reported new regulation “completely unacceptable to the Philippines.”
He declined to elaborate or give operational details but assured Filipinos that “we will take whatever measures to always protect our citizens.”
China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea which overlaps with territorial claims of several countries including the Philippines.
The International Arbitral Court had invalidated China’s claim but China refused to acknowledge the decision.
Earlier reports said China’s new regulation, which was reportedly adopted on May 15, allows the detention, for up to 60 days, of foreigners violating China’s entry and exit rules and persons assisting others to illegally exit and enter Chinese territory, among others.
Leonardo Cuaresma, the association’s president, said it is not right for China to enforce such regulation, specifically at Scarborough Shoal which he said is part of Philippine territory.
Scarborough Shoal is about 124 nautical miles from Zambales and well within the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
China gained control of the shoal in 2012, after a standoff with Philippine government vessels.
Since then, the Chinese have prevented Filipino fishermen from going inside the shoal’s lagoon. They have allowed Filipino fishermen at the vicinity of the shoal, though some of them were subjected to harassment.
“They should not do that (detain) because we know the law. We are not violating anything under our fishery law,” Cuaresma said in Filipino during a radio interview.
“Besides, we are not bullying or harassing them,” he added.
The Chinese have also harassed Philippine government vessels in the area. The latest was on April 30 against a Philippine Coast Guard vessel and a ship of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources distributing food and fuel to fishermen in the area.
Last week, Chinese vessels shadowed a convoy of Philippine fishing boats organized by the Atin Ito coalition to distribute food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen near the shoal. The convoy stopped in the middle of the mission and returned to Zambales last Thursday after after an advance party reached the shoal and accomplished the mission.
“As long as we know that we are not violating anything, we will continue to fish there,” said Cuaresma.
Cuaresma said the Chinese are making it appear that Filipino fishermen are stealing fish from Philippine territory.
Cuaresma urged the government to deploy ships to patrol the area. He suggested these patrols be conducted with foreign allies.
He said government resources should be poured to show to show the area is not a Chinese territory.
He also said the Philippine Coast Guard should be in the area every day.
ANOTHER CASE
Sen. Francis Tolentino and Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said the Philippines can file another case against China before the International Tribunal on the Laws of the Sea or the International Court of Justice if it arrests supposed trespassers.
Tolentino also said there was no mention of the West Philippine Sea in China’s new regulation, but Beijing made the announcement after the Atin Ito coalition conducted a resupply mission at Bajo de Masinloc last week.
To his interpretation, he said, what China was referring to as its “border” does not include Scarborough Shoal.
“That is wrong because there is no border being crossed. Their border would be 12 nautical miles from the land mass of Guangdong or Hainan. So, Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc and Ayungin Shoal are very far,” he said in Filipino.
He said the new regulation is against all laws.
He said the nearest point of China to its 12-nautical mile border is called a “costal state” which is very far from Scarborough, while its vessels getting near Scarborough Shoal is called “flag state.”
He said China wants to make it appear that it is the costal state when it comes to the issues in the West Philippine sea.
“So, we are the coastal state, they are the flag state. This means that the coastal state should be the one to enforce laws on immigration, customs, environment, fisheries, etc.
They have a different view. They are signatories to all agreements on this, which is very clear that the nearest seashore is the coastal state which should be implementing its laws, and not the flag state. A flag state is called as such if you have your country’s flag attached to your vessel which is just exercising freedom of navigation… So, we are the ones who should be implementing our laws),” Tolentino said.
Therefore, he said, China cannot arrest or impound the vessels of those who are passing through any part of the West Philippine Sea based on Article 73 of the United Nations Convention on the laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) which China is also a signatory of.
“Coastal states can impose penalties for violation of fisheries laws and regulations in the exclusive economic zone, and may not include imprisonment …We can file new cases but we cannot do so because they have not arrested any of our citizens,” he said.
Hontiveros said if China pushes through with the implementation of its new regulation, the Philippines “may be forced again to sue them again in the Hague tribunal.”
“In the meantime, as advised by former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the Philippine government must now urge allies such as the US, Japan, Australia, France, and other like-minded nations to oppose this flagrant violation of international law by joining our patrols within our exclusive economic zone,” Hontiveros said.
“China better abrogate on this shameless policy. China better stop inciting violence in our waters. China better leave the West Philippine Sea alone,” she added.
SECRET DEAL
At the House, Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) said former president Rodrigo Duterte’s secret agreement with China was what may have emboldened it to justify the new policy of arresting non-Chinese inside the Philippines’ territorial waters.
She expressed belief the secret deal was what “sparked the elevated incursions of China in our territorial waters and exclusive economic zone like its water cannon attacks.”
“I believe that China is also going to use this secret deal to justify their new policy of arresting non-Chinese in the areas they are claiming that are well within our EEZ,” she said.
Castro said those responsible for this surrender of sovereignty have to be held accountable.
She also lauded the decision of the House leadership to finally investigate the secret agreement, after she filed House Resolution No. 1216. — With Jocelyn Montemayor, Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
