Expect bullying at WPS, Pinoy fishermen warned
Tarriela maintained that Filipino fishermen are eager to fish in the WPS, especially at Scarborough Shoal, for its rich marine resources
Daily TribuneTarriela maintained that Filipino fishermen are eager to fish in the WPS, especially at Scarborough Shoal, for its rich marine resources
Philippine Coast Guard crew members aboard the BRP Cabra monitor a Chinese vessel anchored at Sabina Shoal, a West Philippine Sea outcrop located about 135 kilometers west of Palawan. China’s ‘aggressive’ actions in the WPS had earned condemnation from the Philippines and such countries as the United States, Japan and Australia. (Handout/Philippine Coastguard/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)
COAST Guard and Navy officials received assurances on Tuesday from the Senate of an increase in their respective intelligence and confidential funds to improve their information-gathering capabilities in the West Philippine Sea. | PHOTOGRAPH BY Dianne Bacelonia FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE
The Armed Forces of the Philippines has doubled back on an earlier statement that Chinese coast guard and militia vessels had made Scarborough Shoal a no–fishing zone for Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea.
Still, the National Task Force on the WPS yesterday said the AFP and the Philippine Coast Guard could not assure Filipino fishermen that Chinese maritime forces would not bully them at Scarborough.
"As to how we are going to assure them that they are not going to be bullied, it seems I cannot answer that," said NTFWPS spokesperson, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela.
"But the assurance that I can give Filipino fishermen is that every time the PCG and AFP are there, they can call us when they are experiencing such incidents (bullying)," he said after the Senate hearing on the WPS.
Tarriela said the PCG and the AFP maintain a strong presence in the WPS to assert the country's sovereignty and protect Filipinos partaking of the rich marine life in the country's exclusive economic zone.
However, PCG vessels themselves had been bullied by the China Coast Guard while on resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, also in the WPS.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague affirmed the Philippines' entitlements in its EEZ in the WPS, which China claims is part of its territory as it overlaps the South China Sea.
In the same ruling, the arbitral court ruled that China's territorial claim covering nearly the entire South China Sea — under its nine-dash line theory — had no legal basis.
China did not merely disregard the arbitral ruling; it expanded its claim to a 10-dash line with a new map that added another dash east of Taiwan.
Strong presence
Tarriela maintained that Filipino fishermen are eager to fish in the WPS, especially at Scarborough Shoal, because of its rich marine resources.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources estimated that 324,312 metric tons of marine products had come from the WPS in 2020 alone, translating to about seven percent of the Philippines' fisheries production that year.
Coast Guard spokesperson, Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, in another interview, said the PCG has been deploying ten multi-role response vessels and offshore patrol vessels regularly.
He said the assets ensure the Philippines "always has a strong WPS presence, not only for rotation and resupply missions" but also to protect Filipino fishermen. "We are accompanied by the BFAR in every operation," Balilo said.
Meanwhile, AFP spokesperson, Colonel Medel Aguilar, corrected his earlier statement that Chinese vessels had blocked access to Scarborough Shoal to Filipino fishermen. Medel said the BFAR and PCG are assisting the fishermen.
Tarriela said the PCG has been facing off against the overwhelming Chinese presence in the WPS, not letting it go unchallenged in the Filipino's own EEZ.
"Our vessels are only 44 meters, and we are confronting 30, 40, 50 Chinese militia swarming a particular area. So, what we do is challenge them through radio. We tell them that they are within the EEZ of our country," Tarriela said.
"And we document them (incidents), release them to the public, and share them with the international community — that these Chinese militias really exist, that they are swarming our EEZ," he said.
During the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the lawmakers would augment the confidential and intelligence funds of the PCG and the Philippine Navy to have "full logistical and operational support" during incidents of Chinese aggression in the WPS.
The PCG has a proposed P70.7-billion operational budget for 2024.
With Dianne Bacelonia
