NATIONAL Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said on Sunday that eight Chinese fishing vessels were spotted in the Pagasa Island area last week just as the government reported the presence of at least 220 Chinese maritime militia vessels near Bataraza, Palawan.
The military said it was continuing to monitor the presence of the Chinese ships in the country’s maritime waters as the government mulls over its response, including the possible lodging of a diplomatic protest by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The presence of Chinese fishing vessels at Pagasa, just 50 nautical miles from the Whitsun Reef where the Chinese maritime militias were spotted, was disclosed by Esperon, and it came just two days after the Philippine Navy commissioned into service its newest frigate.
Whitsun Reef is located 175 nautical miles from Bataraza, Palawan.
Esperon said the eight Chinese fishing vessels were seen in Pagasa on Tuesday last week, but he could not say whether the fishing vessels are still there. He said they were considering actions over the vessels’ presence in the country’s maritime waters.
Over the weekend, the Philippine Coast Guard reported the presence of the 220 maritime militia vessels at the Whitsun Reef on March 7, a report that was confirmed by the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea, also headed by Esperon.
The large numbers of Chinese boats are “a concern due to the possible overfishing and destruction of the marine environment, as well as risks to safety of navigation,” the task force said, although it added that the vessels were not fishing when sighted.
Frigate commissioned
The sightings of the Chinese vessels at the reef and in Pagasa came as BRP Antonio Luna (FF 151), the last of the two brand new and missile-capable frigate ordered from South Korea, was commissioned into the service of the Navy on Friday.
“As we christen and commission the FF 151, we expect to raise our capacity to protect our nation’s vast maritime interests. We also expect to improve our approaches in securing our sovereignty, especially in the South China Sea,” said Acting Navy Flag Officer in Command Rear Admiral Adeluis Bordado during the commissioning.
Military spokesman Major Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the Armed Forces of the Philippines has sent assets to the areas where the Chinese ships are seen, both to validate and document their presence.
“The AFP’s Western Command has dispatched Air Force and Navy assets to conduct air and maritime sovereignty patrols to further validate the report,” Arevalo said on Sunday.
“Appropriate reports were made and forwarded to other agencies of government through the General Headquarters of such monitored number of CMM. These reports are made bases of filing appropriate actions not limited to filing diplomatic protests,” he added.
Arevalo said the military “will not renege” on its commitment to “protect and defend our maritime interest within the bounds of the law.”
Beijing: No comment
Chinese Embassy officials did not immediately issue any comment. China, the Philippines and four other governments have been locked in a tense territorial standoff over the resource-rich and busy waterway for decades.
Critics have repeatedly called out President Duterte, who has nurtured friendly ties with Beijing since taking office in 2016, for not standing up to China’s aggressive behavior and deciding not to immediately seek Chinese compliance with an international arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s historic claims to virtually the entire sea. China has refused to recognize the 2016 ruling and continues to defy it.
The arbitration body also ruled that China had breached its duty to respect the traditional fishing rights of Filipinos when Chinese forces blocked them from Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines in 2012. The Philippines, however, could also not deny Chinese fishermen access to Scarborough, according to the ruling. The decision did not specify any other traditional fishing areas within the Philippines’s exclusive zone where fishermen from China and other countries could be allowed to fish.