THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday cleared Chinese vessels of any involvement in the ramming of a fishing boat off Pangasinan last Monday, leading to the death of three Filipino fishermen.
“It’s an accident. China has nothing to do with it,” said Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, during a public briefing.
Speculations that a vessel of the China Coast Guard or a Chinese maritime vessel rammed the fishing boat FB Dearyn arose after the PCG reported that the incident occurred at the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal.
The PCG said incident occurred 85 nautical miles northeast from the shoal or 180 nautical miles from Agno town in Pangasinan.
The shoal has been under Chinese control since 2012 after a standoff between Chinese and Philippine government vessels. Since then, Filipino fishermen have been prevented from fishing inside the shoal. Last month, China was found to have installed a floating barrier at the shoal’s entrance, which the PCG removed days after discovery.
“This did not occur at Bajo de Masinloc, contrary to speculations that spread yesterday (Wednesday) that it could be a Chinese maritime militia or a Chinese Coast Guard vessel,” said Tarriela.
“It was not deliberately rammed as speculated by some (people), and it’s not China Coast Guard or Chinese maritime militia (which was involved)… The Chinese story speculated by some (people) is not true,” said Tarriela.
In a radio interview, Tarriela said the point of reference of the mishap should be Pangasinan.
“It has given a wrong connotation that it occurred in Bajo de Masinloc, it has led to wrong speculations that it’s the Chinese (who are behind)… Let’s stick with the fact that it occurred beyond the coastline of Pangasinan.
“As the spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard for the West Philippine Sea, I can already tell the public that this is definitely not Chinese maritime West Philippine Sea,” he said.
PCG commandant Adm. Artemio Abu said the incident “has nothing to do” with the dispute over Scarborough Shoal.
A probe being conducted by the PCG is focused on a “vessel of interest,” the Marshall Islands-registered oil tanker Pacific Anna which was the only vessel at area at the time of the incident, based on marine traffic data.
PCG spokesperson Rear Adm. Armand Balilo said the vessel, which came from South Korea, is due to arrive Singapore today.
“We already wrote Marshall Islands, the flag state, where it (Pacific Anna) is registered, to inform them of the incident,” he said.
Balilo said the PCG has also informed Singapore port authorities of the incident.
Tarriela said the foreign vessel may have not noticed the fishing boat at the “nautical highway” due to bad weather.
“It was very dark in the area, there’s bad weather so there is possibility they were not noticed (by the vessel),” said Tarriela.
The PCG earlier said the fishing was moored at its “payaw,” or fish aggregating device, when it was rammed at around 4:20 a.m. last Monday, killing boat captain Dexter Laudencia and crew members Romeo Mejeco and Benedicto Olandria.
Abu said the PCG was able to identify the “vessel of interest” through vessel traffic monitoring.
“The vessel was there so we call it vessel of interest. What we did was to write its next port of call which is Singapore,” he said.
Commander Alex Corpuz, head of the Coast Guard Pangasinan station, said based on initial investigations, “the sea condition was rough, it was raining and visibility is restricted.”
“It was early morning, it was dark, it’s raining and weather condition was bad so I think the large vessel was not aware it hit the small boat,” he added.
