The Armed Forces of the Philippines will support and coordinate efforts with the Philippine Coast Guard to ensure the safety of fishermen returning to the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said yesterday.
“In coordination with concerned agencies of the government, we will continue to relentlessly pursue all means necessary to ensure that our citizens are well-protected at all times and that they are able to exercise their freedom to include maritime rights within our sovereign territory,” Burgos said.
“The safety and security of our citizens will always be of paramount concern in all our undertakings,” he added.
The fishing ban imposed by the Philippine government in the shoal will be lifted on July 15.
Malacañang, however, has yet to decide whether to send back government ships to the shoal.
When asked if the lifting of the fishing ban would lead to the redeployment of government ships, Burgos said the Coast Guard, not the military, is directly involved in the issue.
A security official said the lifting of the fishing ban in Panatag could pave way for the return of Philippine government vessels to the disputed area.
The official, who requested anonymity, said allowing the fishermen to conduct fishing activities in the area would entail the presence of security forces to ensure their safety.
“The responsibility of authorities in the area is not just to apprehend illegal activities but also to ensure the safety of fishermen,” the official told The STAR.
“If fishermen are allowed to return (to the shoal), there ought to be personnel or vessels that would oversee them,” the official added.
The Philippine government earlier declared a fishing ban in Panatag Shoal last May to replenish the fish stock in the area.
China also declared a fishing ban even if the shoal is part of Philippine territory, as provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
However, China seems to have violated its own fishing ban due to the continuous presence of Chinese fishing boats inside the shoal’s lagoon.
Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of think tank Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said China could take advantage of the Philippines’ absence in the shoal.
“It confirms the observation that the Philippines lacks capacity to sustain and enhance our presence in the shoal despite its geographic proximity. China can take advantage of this weakness,” Banlaoi told The STAR.
“But at present, the holding of CARAT (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) will enable the Philippines and its Asian allies to monitor the developments and activities in the shoal,” he added, referring to the joint Philippine-US naval exercises that will start today.
Banlaoi said the participation of some Philippine ships in CARAT is one of the reasons why the government is not yet sending vessels to Panatag Shoal.
“Philippine ships should return to Panatag Shoal to maintain our presence and demonstrate our peaceful control and benign administration of the area with or without fishing ban,” he said.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, on the other hand, called on President Aquino to intensify in the modernization of the AFP if the government wants leverage against China over the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
Enrile noted that the annual budget allocated for the country’s military is not enough.
But he said Malacañang should be given leeway to address this and provide the military its much-needed boost for modernization.
Enrile also welcomed the holding of the CARAT exercises.
Enrile shrugged off reports that the joint military exercise is a move to provoke China.
“Of course, that is what they will say, so what? If you’re provoked, move on… Peace? We always pray for peace but in this world, you always think of worst condition, and prepare for it, not assume a peaceful world, there no such thing, peace all the time,” Enrile said.
He said the people should not always put limitation to the government especially in terms of modernizing the country’s depleted military hardware and equipment.
“The day will come that you will go to war, so you need to spend for that to serve the country. What will you do if your country will be taken away from you and what will you do if countries like China will swallow you alive?” he asked.
Called off
Panatag Shoal is located 124 nautical miles from the nearest base point in Zambales.
It is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone as provided by the UNCLOS, to which China is a signatory.
A standoff ensued on April 10 after Chinese maritime surveillance ships stopped the Philippine Navy from arresting Chinese fishermen who had engaged in illegal fishing and harvesting or endangered species in the area.
The Philippines has protested the Chinese vessels’ action but China has insisted that it has sovereignty over the area.
Both countries support peaceful means to resolve the dispute despite reports of bullying by Chinese ships of Filipino vessels and fishermen.
On June 15, President Aquino directed two Philippine ships to pull out of Panatag Shoal allegedly to bad weather.
These ships have been facing off with Chinese vessels and boats that have remained in the area since April.
Five days after, on June 20, an alleged Chinese vessel accidentally rammed a local fishing boat in Bolinao, Pangasinan, north of Panatag Shoal, killing one and leaving four others still missing.
A maritime investigation is still underway to identify the foreign vessel involved in the accident.
The Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy, however, have stopped searching for the four missing fishermen.
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos, however, said local responders continue to conduct search operations.
“The Coast Guard and Navy have called off their search operations because the fuel (for their air and naval assets) is very expensive. But our Office of Civil Defense in Region 1, our local responders and fishermen in the area are still searching for the missing persons,” Ramos yesterday told radio dzBB.
He said they are not yet giving up on the missing fishermen, whose fishing boat was reportedly rammed by a Hong Kong-registered vessel.
“We are not losing hope. They have life vests,” he said.
The four missing fishermen were identified as Fred Celino, Arnold Garcia, Domy de los Santos and Amante Resonable.
Authorities are still investigating whether the vessel really came from China and whether the collision was an accident. -ABS-CBN News (July 2, 2012 7:04 AM)
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