Senate probe into Chinese vessels in West Philippine Sea sought
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday said she will file a resolution to urge the Senate to look into the presence of Chinese vessels in Philippine waters.
Hundreds of Chinese ships, assumed to be part of Chinese maritime militia, have reportedly been surrounding Pag-asa Island, one of the largest features in the Spratly chain in the West Philippine Sea.
Hontiveros said the public should know what the government is doing to address Beijing's illegal fishing in the country's territorial waters.
"Is the Duterte administration still in full control of our waters and territories, or have they surrendered them already to China? The illegal, unreported and unregulated presence of numerous Chinese vessels in our territories is extremely bothering," Hontiveros said in a statement.
The senator added that China has also been disregarding Philippine sovereignty and marine jurisdiction.
China continued to ignore the July 2016 arbitral award of a United Nations-backed tribunal that invalidated its expansive claims in the South China Sea.
According to Hontiveros, the reported presence of Chinese ships, which Malacañang claimed were fising vessels, fall under the category of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that break fisheries laws.
The senator also questioned the presence of a Sierra Leone-flagged dredging vessel off the shores of Lobo, Batangas.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) earlier reported that MV Emerald has Chinese and Indonesia crew aboard it and has been lurking in the area since last week.
The vessel in Batangas reportedly plans to dredge about 2 million cubic meters of sand from Lobo River that will be used for the Hong Kong International Airport project.
"What kind of governance is this? Our roads are rough, and our bridges are broken while China is illegally dredging sand for the construction of the Hong Kong airport runway?" Hontiveros said.
The senator called for the arrest of the crew of the dredging vessel in Batangas if they do not have proper permits to conduct their activities in the area.
The PCG, however, clarified that the Philippine Ports Authority had issued an anchorage clearance to the foreign dredging vessel while the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had issued environmental compliance certificates for the 6.5 kilometer dredging along Lobo River.
"(Coast Guard Station) Batangas is continuously monitoring the safety and environment concerns," the PCG said Tuesday.
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