Philippines has 'opening' to raise Recto Bank collision at ASEAN summit
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has a chance to raise the sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel in the West Philippine Sea during the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Thailand.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever Mahilum-West said the South China Sea, part of which is the West Philippine Sea, will be on the agenda of the summit this week.
"During the exchange of views on regional developments, there is an opening to raise these issues," Mahilum-West said in a Malacañang briefing Tuesday.
The DFA official noted that the Philippines is a coordinator of the ASEAN-China dialogue partnership until 2021, where Beijing and ASEAN member states are negotiating the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
Mahilum-West said incidents such as the collision of a Filipino and Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea would be among the agenda during the negotiations.
"Incidents like what happened emphasize the importance of having a code of conduct so that we could avoid, we could prevent these incidents from happening in the future," Mahilum-West said.
The DFA official, however, did not categorically confirm if the Philippines would raise the issue before the summit as investigations are ongoing.
"For one thing, there is this investigation that is ongoing that up to the present discloses certain facts that we did not know before," she said.
The Philippine government is also waiting for the response of China on the "strong" diplomatic protest that it had lodged against Beijing.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier tweeted that he had fired off a diplomatic protest after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana released a statement condemning the actions of the Chinese vessel in abandoning the 22 Filipino fishermen as their boat was sinking.
Noting that major factors are pending, Mahilum-West said it would be premature to confirm if the Philippines would raise the Recto Bank incident at the ASEAN Summit.
President Rodrigo Duterte, along with other Cabinet members, will be attending the 34th ASEAN Summit in Thailand from June 22 to 23.
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.
- Latest
- Trending
