FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City -- Are they really spy ships?
The Philippine Navy is verifying reports that the Chinese fishing boats anchored at Scarborough Shoal for the past two weeks are actually spook vessels.
Vice Adm. Luisito Fernandez, the Navy's flag-officer-in-command, said eight Chinese vessels had remained in the disputed territory until yesterday. He noted that they are beginning to worry whether these vessels were there merely to seek shelter from rough seas, or spy on the Philippine military.
"There's some room for suspicion," he said. "Their extended stay gives us reason to suspect, but we can't confirm our suspicion yet."
Last Friday, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez issued a warning that the Chinese vessels in Scarborough Shoal may be masquerading as fishing boats for spying purposes.
Golez, who chairs the House committee on public order, said declassified reports from the US House of Representatives showed that China has recently stepped up its worldwide political and espionage efforts.
He said the same reports also revealed that China's intelligence services have been using Chinese students abroad in collecting information to advance its military and technological capability.
"These ships may be part of Beijing's intelligence-gathering network," he said.
Fernandez, however, said that Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado has instructed them to observe maximum tolerance in dealing with the Chinese vessels and their crew.
"He told us to avoid any action that would tend to provoke confrontations," he said.
Yesterday, Fernandez said the Navy employed the services of an interpreter to relay the Philippine government's "request" for the ships to leave.
The interpreter, described as a male Filipino-Chinese civilian, was taken to Scarborough Shoal by the frigate BRP Quezon which was escorted by the patrol ship BRP Pangasinan. He is expected to arrive in the area later in the day.
"We sent two ships there yesterday with an interpreter aboard. We had circulated a sort of notice advising them to leave the area. The notice was in Chinese," he said.
The notice was reportedly "persuasive and very factual" and contained an appeal for the ships to leave the shoal since it is part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
Fernandez added that he was still entertaining the idea that the ships may truly be fishing vessels waiting for the weather to improve.
He said four ships have already left and the eight opted to stay "because the weather suddenly deteriorated."
"These vessels are not engaged in poaching or coral harvesting unlike those we have caught in the past," he said.
Fernandez disclosed that in the recent past, the Navy has monitored at least four Chinese vessels that have been alternately staying at Scarborough Shoal.
"The ships rotate two at a time. They are the same fishing boats," he said, basing his statement on the numbers on the bows of the vessels.
Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China, is a rich fishing ground located 125 nautical miles off the province of Zambales, or well-within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
The two countries also own rival claims to the Spratly Group of Islands to the southwest of the shoal.
In the past, the Navy had either rammed, chased away or detained Chinese fishing vessels which had intruded into Philippine-claimed areas in the Spratlys, drawing formal protests and warnings from Beijing.