Captain of boat sank by Chinese forgoes Duterte meeting
MANILA, Philippines — The captain of a Filipino fishing boat rammed by a Chinese vessel will no longer meet with President Rodrigo Duterte, according to a report.
Junel Insigne, captain of F/B GimVer 1, was on his way to Manila on Sunday when his wife called him and told him to return to their home in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, according to a report from radio dzMM.
The captain, along with the owner of the boat, were supposed to meet with Duterte on Monday.
This development comes after a special Cabinet meeting on the sinking of the Philippine boat was canceled.
Duterte and Cabinet members were supposed to discuss the response of the government on the collision of a Chinese vessel and Filipino boat near Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed that the meeting scheduled Monday was canceled.
On June 12, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana released a statement condemning the actions of a Chinese trawler that rammed the Filipino boat, leaving 22 fishermen "to the mercy of the elements."
The Filipino boat was anchored and stationary when it was hit by the Chinese ship, which immediately left the scene after the collision.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila, meanwhile, claimed that the captain of the offending vessel attempted to rescue the Filipino fishermen but "was suddenly besieged by seven or eight Filipino fishing boats."
Beijing had also called out Manila for supposedly politicizing the incident without verification.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang called the collision in the West Philippine Sea as "an ordinary maritime traffic accident."
The Philippine Navy contradicted the remarks of China, pointing out that the Filipino fishing vessel was anchored when the incident occurred.
"The ship was rammed. This is not a normal maritime accident," Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad said. — Patricia Lourdes Viray
Updates in the aftermath of the sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a suspected Chinese trawler.
Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay says fishermen and boat owner of F/BGem-Ver, the boat sunk by a Chinese vessel and abandoned at sea in 2019, received their P6 million compensation on May 16.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirms "there has been a final settlement of the damage claims of the Gem-Ver fishermen against the owners of the Chinese vessel." — Kristine Joy Patag
The Philippines and China discussed the issue of compensation for the owner and crew of F/B Gem-Ver 1 — a fishing boat that was damaged and then sank in 2019 after an allision with a Chinese fishing vessel in the Recto Bank area of the West Philippine Sea — last week, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra says.
"The [Department of Justice] will lead a small group (DOJ, [Foreign Affairs], [Agriculture/Bureau of Fisheries and Aquartic Resources) to put a close to this festering issue," he says, adding they will meet with their Chinese counterparts on June 2 and 7.
"As far as the Filipino fishermen are concerned, it is important that they recover fully their expenses for the boat repair and the income they lost while the boat was under repair," he also says.
A philanthropist from Shanghai has turned over a commercial fishing vessel to replace F/B Gem-Ver 1, which was damaged and sank in the the Recto Bank allision in June, columnist and special envoy Ramon Tulfo says in a press release.
"The fishing boat, christened as F/B Pengyou, replaced the F/B Gem-Ver 1 that was sunk at Recto Bank in the South China Sea," the Office of the Special Envoy for Public Diplomacy to China says. Recto Bank is part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
Tulfo says Xue Chengbuao, a tycoon from Shanghai, turned over the the boat in a ceremony in San Jose, Mindoro Occidental on Sunday.
"F/B Pengyou is 17 meters long and 1.6 meters wide. It weighs 10.6 tons and has a Fuso engine with 160 hp," Tulfo's office also says.
"Pengyou" is Mandarin Chinese for friend.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo says there is no contradiction in the Philippine Coast Guard's report that the June 9 Recto Bank incident is a “very serious maritime casualty” and President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier statement that the incident was a "little maritime incident."
"It's serious in the sense that when you leave our countrymen there then that's a serious matter," Panelo explains, adding that even if it is a serious matter "you cannot blow that and make it into an international crisis."
He adds the Philippines will "definitely" seek accountability from China over the allision that sank F/B Gem-Ver 1.
He says China will be the one to decide on how it should deal with or make accountable the crew of the Chinese vessel that left 22 Filipino fishermen after the allision.
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