Boat owner regrets Recto Bank incident
The ship owner of the Chinese fishing boat involved through our Association would like to express his sincere apology to the Filipino fishermen
Almost three months after the ramming incident involving a Filipino fishing boat and a Chinese vessel at the Recto Bank, the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday forwarded an apology issued by the owner of the Chinese fishing boat to the Philippines.
In a social media post, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) shared the key portion of the apology letter, saying that the Chinese government received the accident investigation report which revealed that the Chinese fishing boat should be held responsible on the collision that happened in the disputed territory on 9 June.
“The ship owner of the Chinese fishing boat involved through our Association would like to express his sincere apology to the Filipino fishermen,” the translated letter read.
The Chinese Embassy also noted that after investigation, they urged the Chinese ship owner to take care of the damages it caused the Filipino fishermen.
“We believe, although this accident was an unintentional mistake of the Chinese fishermen, the Chinese fishing boat should, however, take major responsibility in the accident,” the embassy said. “The Philippine side is requested to file a specific appeal for civil compensation based on the actual loss. Our Association will urge the ship owner of the fishing boat involved to actively coordinate with the Philippine side to expedite the latter’s claim for compensation according to the procedures for insurance claims.”
According to their investigation, the Chinese Embassy found out that the fishing boat is registered in Guangdong.
“After the accident, our association has timely asked for information from the shipowner, ship captain and crew of the fishing boat involved and investigated the accident. At, present we have come up with an accident investigation report,” it said.
The embassy was also grateful that there are no casualties in the ramming incident.
“It was fortunate that there were no casualties. I feel deep regret that this accident had to happen and I would like to express my deep sympathy to the Filipino fishermen,” the letter read.
To recall, the Filipino vessel has 22 fishermen on board and they were left distressed in the middle of the sea after the collision and were eventually rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel.
Meanwhile, Navy Chief Vice Adm. Robert Empedrad said that it will be coming out with rules of engagement regarding the passage in an “unfriendly manner” of foreign vessel in Philippine waters.
In a press briefing held at the Philippine Navy (PN) headquarters on Wednesday, the Navy chief said that the Navy is coming up with rules of engagement pertaining to what could be an unfriendly gesture by foreign ships.
“We are still finalizing the Navy’s concept or rules of engagement to define the unfriendly gesture which President Rodrigo Duterte is saying,” Empedrad said. “Our concept is that once the littoral monitoring stations (LMS) of the Philippine Navy see a vessel entering our territorial waters, we will direct our available ships to shadow or accompany the ship until it is out of our territory -- assuming that it did not ask permission.”
“So, we continuously challenge the ship and if it does not respond or if it turns off its AIS (automatic identification system), then probably we can send an aircraf t to also shadow it and then take picture of the ship if it’s in our territorial waters,” he added.
Empedrad said if it still doesn’t respond, a PN ship can cross its bow but not necessarily in a provocative way.
To recall, Duterte has already required all foreign vessels passing Philippine territorial waters to notify and get clearance from the proper government authority before the actual passage.
In a recent incident, Empedrad said, the country’s newest and most powerful ship, the BRP Conrado Yap — a PS-39 — was “shadowed” by Chinese warships and the Taiwanese Coast Guard on its way to the Philippines from South Korea.
It is a normal occurrence for the Chinese and Taiwanese ships to shadow foreign vessels like the Philippines. But they eventually disengaged when the BRP Condrado Yap entered Philippine waters.
In a recent incident, Empedrad said, the country’s newest and most powerful ship, the BRP Conrado Yap—a PS-39—was “shadowed” by Chinese warships and the Taiwanese Coast Guard on its way to the Philippines from South Korea.