PHILIPPINE authorities are looking into reports of Chinese vessels chasing after a television crew aboard a Philippine vessel in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. “If proven to be true, the DFA will raise the matter with the Chinese government,” the department said in a statement.
“In the meantime, the Department is thankful that the crew and the Filipino vessel are safe,” the DFA added. It was referring to the news team led by journalist Chiara Zambrano, who said they had joined some Filipino fishermen enroute to the Ayungin Shoal area, as they were documenting their experiences given frequent reports of Chinese vessels driving away Filipino fishing boats from traditional fishing grounds, well within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.
The DFA said the public is reminded to coordinate with Philippine authorities when planning a visit to the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the West Philippine Sea.
Zambrano’s crew had said that even after the boat they joined had opted to simply turn back after being shooed away by a Chinese coast guard vessel, two Chinese missile boats chased them – in an area that, she said, after checking their GPS, was well within Philippine EEZ.
The alleged chase by missile boats is seen by some lawmakers as proof that the swarm of Chinese boats since early March are not “fishing vessels” seeking shelter from “bad weather.” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana last week told Chinese officials to order all of them to leave the West Philippine Sea, particularly the Julian Felipe Reef where they were first spotted on March 7.
DFA Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. said Manila will file a diplomatic protest for “each day” that the Chinese vessels remain in the area.