A screengrab from a video taken on Aug. 19 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows flares that had been fired by a Chinese jet fighter disrupting the view from an aircraft of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources patrolling the maritime area near China-controlled Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. —PCG PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Some Filipino fishermen were able to come as close to a few hundred meters away from Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, but some of them were forced back.
This was the report of the fishermen who attended the Fisherfolk Congress in Subic, Zambales, National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said on Thursday.
Malaya said that while some fishers were able to approach as close as 200 to 300 meters away, some of them were chased away just 20 nautical miles away from Panatag Shoal.
READ: PH fishers spot pipe installation ‘in middle of’ Scarborough – NGO
“They have different experiences, so it appears that they are not being blocked every day,” Malaya said over radio dzBB.
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Previously, fishers can come 50 to 100 meters close to Panatag Shoal, according to Mark Figueras, team leader of the “Atin Ito”, a group of civilians and fishermen who conducted a mission there.
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Since June 15, China authorized its coast guard to detain foreigners deemed “illegally crossing” its borders without trial for up to 60 days, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report on May 16.
READ: China’s new trespassing rule is illegal, illegitimate — experts
The SCMP report noted that the announcement of China’s anti-trespassing policy “coincides with the arrival to the general vicinity of the Atin Ito convoy in the shoal last May.
Beijing also imposed a unilateral fishing moratorium in the South China Sea, which outright disregards Manila’s sovereign rights in the western section of its exclusive economic zone, until Sept. 16.
No Filipinos have been arrested since this revised fishing moratorium was first implemented in 2021, Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, previously said.
China seized control of Scarborough Shoal’s lagoon in 2012 after its coast guard’s standoff with Philippine vessels.
This move is in line with Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by a July 2016 international tribunal ruling that stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013.
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This landmark decision also included Scarborough Shoal, which was declared a traditional fishing ground that the Philippines, China, and Vietnam should share.
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