Philippine senators oppose joint probe of sunk boat

PHILIPPINE senators on Sunday objected to President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to agree to China’s suggestion for a joint inquir y into the June 9 ramming and sinking of a fishing boat by a Chinese trawler, arg uing that it would only undermine t he countr y’s control over its waters in the South China Sea.

The incident, which happened near the resource-rich Recto (Reed) Bank, sparked protests blasting t he Duterte administration for siding with China instead of defending t he 22-strong Filipino crew of t he Gem-Ver 1 who were abandoned in the open sea by the Chinese t rawler.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said letting China take part in the marine inquiry would only “derogate our jurisdiction and prejudice our claim” in the West Philippine Sea, waters within the Philippines’ 370km exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the heavily disputed South China Sea.

“We should not allow it. The law is on our side,” Drilon, a former justice secretary, said in a statement.

“There are clea r v iolations of internationa l treaties and our loca l laws committed by the Chinese vessel. A joint investigation will only ser ve t heir interest, not ours,” he stressed.

Within Philippine territory

Besides, he said t he collision happened right wit hin t he countr y’s territoria l waters, a fact t hat China had a lready ack nowledged.

“There is no need for a joint investigation … All that is left for the government to do is to implement and execute our laws. Sadly, our laws were put in the back seat in favour of China,” Drilon said.

Sen Panfilo Lacson agreed, pointing out t hat t he landmark 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which favoured t he Philippines, had declared Recto Bank part of the countr y’s EEZ “and therefore cannot be claimed by China.”

“Having said that, allowing a joint investigation with China and a third party may be interpreted as a waiver of our right of ownership of Recto Bank,” Lacson said.

The senator had prev iously deplored t he president’s play ing down the sinking of Gem-Ver 1 as just a “litt le maritime accident”, say ing it was v irtually a “surrender” of t he countr y’s leader to a foreign power.

More important issue

He said that although the government’s decision to protect t he Philippines’ f riendly ties with China was “presumably for politica l and economic reasons … we should a lso consider the more important issue of sovereign right and territoria l integrit y”.

“At t he ver y least, t hat must be clearly addressed during the conduct of t he joint investigation,” Lacson said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said President Duterte agreed to China’s proposal for a joint inquiry with the help of a “neutral country”.

Opposition Sen Francis Pangilinan echoed Drilon’s argument that allowing China to have a say in the investigation would disregard Republic Act (RA) No 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, which prohibits foreign fishing vessels from the country’s territorial waters.

Pangilinan said t he law a lso explicitly mandated the government to “prosecute loca l and foreign v iolators”.

“Part also of the government’s mandate is to address foreign illegal entrants in our waters,” he said.

“The Recto Bank incident is already a shoo-in to these provisions,” he added.

As Lacson and Drilon had warned, he said t he joint probe may be used by China later on as an “act of abandonment of our claim” in the South China Sea.

Pangilinan said: “The lives and livelihood of our fishermen, marginalised and poorest of the poor will never be a little incident to us. That’s why we believe that a joint investigation between the Philippines and China is disadvantageous to our national interests.”

“It will never be a fair investigation when one is oppressed and the other is the oppressor; when one is the victim and the other is the perpetrator,” he added.

Under RA 10654, which amended the fisheries code, Drilon said the government may demand the Chinese trawler that hit Gem-Ver 1 to pay up to $1.2 million in fines.

Enforce the law

He said t he law stated t hat “t he entr y of any foreign fishing vessel in Philippine waters constitutes a prima facie presumption t hat t he vessel is engaged in fishing in Philippine waters”.

“They could contest t he facts surrounding t he sinking of t he Filipino fishing boat by that Chinese vessel. But t he fact t hat t he Chinese vessel illega lly encroached upon Philippine waters is uncontestable. And for that, the government can penalise t hem,” Drilon said.

“The Congress prov ided more teet h to t he [law] precisely to prevent abuses of our Philippine waters, preser ve our marine and aquatic resources, and protect t he livelihood of our [fishermen]. We ca ll on the executive to implement t he law,” he said.

Chel Diokno, founding dean of De La Salle College of Law, also said that under the fisheries code, the government could immediately fine the owners of the Chinese trawler that rammed and sank the Gem-Ver 1.

Why, then, isn’t the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources exercising its powers against the owners of the Chinese trawler, Diokno asked in a statement on Sunday.

“Why is no one from our government asking the basic question: Why was the Chinese vessel in Philippine territory in the first place? What was it doing there?” Diokno asked.

Regardless of whether the incident was a deliberate ramming or an accidental collision, Diokno said the Chinese vessel should be held accountable for entering Philippine territory and violating Philippine fisheries laws.

Third party

Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario suggested on Sunday that Vietnam be the third party in the proposed joint investigation by the Philippines and China.

A Vietnamese boat rescued the Filipino fishermen, hours after their boat sank.

Justice Secretar y Menardo Guevarra defended the proposed joint investigation, say ing t his was not a surrender of t he countr y’s sovereignt y.

Contradicting the opinion of Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr and former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Guevarra said sovereignty was not a question in the proposed joint investigation.

“There is no issue of sovereignty involved in the investigation of this marine or navigation incident at sea. Our EEZ is not part of Philippine territory,” Guevarra said.

“We only have sovereign rights to exploit the natural resources found [in our EEZ],” he said.