Refused to be ‘kidnapped’
The small town of Masinloc in the northern Philippines, about
125 nautical miles from China’s Huangyan Dao, is a peaceful seaside fishing port. Local fishermen have been fishing here for generations. The raging storm in the sea has typically been the only thing for them to confront, but now they have been presented with a new “opponent”
– China.
In the narratives of some
Western and Philippine media outlets, the fishermen of Masinloc seem to have become one of the most radical groups in the Philippines in confronting
China. But the Global Times’ field visit reveals a different reality.
Jessie Caasi, a fisherwoman, told the Global Times that many fisherfolk like her typically make regular trips – about three days a week – to Huangyan Dao to fish. In recent months, they have mainly used two governmentprovided fishing boats, with each boat carrying around 15 people, making a total of about 30 people per trip.
Jorin Egana, a 29-year-old fish vendor, also confirmed the offer. He told the Global Times that these two government-provided boats have been made available since January, equipped with basic supplies such as water, food, and medicine. Prior to this, most fishermen used to rent boats for individual fishing trips.
The official assistance is seen as a sign of the government’s deeper involvement in the increasingly intense situation, they believed.
Caasi said she regrets that they are currently unable to enter the main fishing areas of Huangyan Dao due to the escalating conflict between the two governments. She stressed that there were no restrictions at all before the current administration took office.
“At that time, the China Coast Guard was friendly, and Chinese and Filipino fishermen could fish together there. We greeted each other as friends and got along well. But in recent days, our news reports kept saying that China wanted to occupy the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao), and the government began warning us to be careful when fishing there,” she said.
Although China neither accepts nor recognizes the so-called South China Sea Arbitration, in 2016, the country gave a special dispensation to Philippine fishermen to maintain their small-scale artisanal fishing activities around Huangyan Dao under humanitarian considerations.
However, the status quo changed since the Philippines began to send government vessels to the territorial sea of Huangyan Dao in the second half of 2023. In this case, China had to respond and repel the government vessels in accordance with the law.
In 2024, the Philippines started initiating more provocations. The Philippine fishery vessel group was reportedly accompanied by the Ship 3002 which belongs to the Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
when they trespassed into the waters off Huangyan Dao.
A source close to the matter told the Global Times that the Philippine official ship typically acts as a mother ship while at sea, not only providing fuel, fresh water, and food supplies to Philippine fishing boats, but also serving as a commander to direct different batches of fishing boats to illegally enter disputed waters.
Additionally, the Philippines has openly planned to deploy its own maritime militia to “defend its sovereignty” amid a raging territorial row with China.
“We want our fisherfolk to become reservists and teach them how to help in defending the country,” Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr, the Filipino armed forces chief, said in a statement in August 2023.
However, the fishermen interviewed by the Global Times said that they have not received any subsidies from the government specifically to support them in fishing around Huangyan Dao.
They emphasized that they will not participate in the government’s plan to turn fishermen into militia, noting that it is “too dangerous.”
“The Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao) is too far away. I would rather stay in nearby waters to fish and earn less money. I don’t know why the Philippine military is doing this [militia plan]. I feel like very few people would be willing to cooperate with this plan,” the 29-year-old fisherman Jorin Egana told the Global Times.
“I don’t consider those kinds of unilateral actions from our government to be beneficial to the peaceful settlement of disputes. If you increase maritime militias in the South China Sea, you are in fact increasing the chances of violence. Let the fisherman be fishermen,” Rommel Banlaoi, Chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism Research, told the Global Times in Manila.