Cayetano promises ‘diplomatic action’ on harassment of Filipino fishers

DFA chief stresses Filipinos could not even fish in Scarborough during Aquino administration

MANILA Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Sunday assured the public that the government is taking “all diplomatic action” against China’s harassment of Filipino fishermen in Panatag or Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

“We are assuring you that we are taking all diplomatic action,” Cayetano said in a transcript of an ambush interview.

“You should look at the results, not the steps. Why do you do protest? Why do you do diplomatic action? Because you want a result. This administration is focusing on the results,” headed in a mix of Filipino and English.

He said that the previous administration had just counted the protests it filed and not the results. The Duterte administration has been criticized in recent weeks for its perceived inaction on developments on Chinese-occupied artificial islands in the disputed sea.

Cayetano claimed that the Philippines has filed numerous diplomatic protests with China but prefers not to make these public.

READ: Philippines, China draw 'red lines' in South China Sea dispute

'China to punish violators of fishing agreement'

Cayetano said he and DFA Undersecretary for Strategic Communications Ernesto Abella already talked to Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua to to ensure that Filipino fishers will not be harassed in Scarborough, which an international arbitral court ruled in 2016 is a traditional fishing area for Filipino, Chinese and Vietnames fisherfolk.

He said Zhao assured them that China "will apply the law very harshly to violators."

Cayetano made the statement after GMA News posted a video showing Chinese coast guard personnel taking the fish caught by Filipino fishermen in the shoal.

The local fishermen told GMA News that the Chinese have been doing this for some time now.

READ: Chinese coast guard continue to harass Filipino fishermen in Scarborough — report

Cayetano thanked the media for reporting the fishing incident.

He pointed out that, according to the report itself, Filipino fishermen were not able fish in the area from 2012 to 2016.

Scarborough, or Panatag, was the site of a standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships in 2012 when a Philippine Navy ship tried to apprehend a Chinese fishing vessel for poaching. In 2013, the Philippines filed an arbitration case at an international tribunal amid reports of harassment and intimidation of fishers by the Chinese Coast Guard.    

“So the reality is, during President Duterte’s time, the provisional fishing agreement has been ironed out and the fishermen were able to enter the area,” Cayetano said in Filipino.

Cayetano stressed that China and the Philippines agree that fishermen should freely navigate in the South China Sea.

“There is only one exception: the areas protected, because of ecology and environment. Like the lagoon inside the Scarborough, this is the spawning ground of fishing or the giant clams. If Filipinos or Chinese or Vietnames take them, they would be apprehended,” Cayetano said in Filipino.

Cayetano said it is important that fisherfolk report harassment so that the government can act on it right away.

In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a ruling which invalidated China's historic nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea.

The landmark ruling indicated that Beijing violated its commitment under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in building artificial islands within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

The tribunal also ruled that Scarborough Shoal is a rock, which is allowed only a 12-nautical mile territorial sea and has no EEZ or continental shelf.

On these grounds, acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said the Philippines can file another case before the UN-backed court.

READ: Carpio: Philippines can file another case against China's harassment of fishermen

The arbitral tribunal earlier found that China failed to respect traditional fishing rights of Filipino fishermen by preventing access to the shoal after May 2012. — With reports from Patricia Lourdes Viray

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