3 Sino, 2 Viet ships seen off Spratlys

Three Chinese and two Vietnamese fishing vessels were sighted by the military in two Philippine-claimed areas in the Spratly islands in the South China Sea, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said yesterday.

The Armed Forces' Western Command (Wescom) said three of the foreign vessels were spotted at the Panata Reef, internationally known as Lam Kiam Cay which is about 250 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

Wescom chief Maj. Gen. Santiago Madrid said two of the vessels, both Chinese, arrived at Panata at around 10:55 a.m. last Wednesday and anchored about one nautical mile southwest of the reef.

The third vessel, a Vietnamese, dropped anchor four hours later about 1.5 nautical miles southwest of Panata.

Also on the same day, one Chinese and one Vietnamese fishing vessel were spotted by Navy surveillance planes at Kota Island which is about 230 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa.

The Chinese vessel, which arrived at around 3 p.m., stopped one nautical mile north of the island.

The Vietnamese vessel arrived shortly and dropped anchor 1.5 northeast of the island.

The same report said that the five Chinese and two Vietnamese fishing vessels, which were sighted at the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa and Parola Islands two weeks ago, are still in the area.

The Wescom report came a week after the Chinese government assured President Estrada that it would never be a threat to Philippine security and that it would abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law on the Sea.