Fishermen on Scarborough: Thank you, Mr. Duterte, but…

DAGUPAN CITY—Fishermen from Pangasinan province were happy President Duterte discussed the Scarborough Shoal issue with his Chinese hosts during his state visit last week, but said that access to the rich fishing ground should not be conditional.

“We had long waited for the President to say this. Now we see hope,” said Charlito Maniago, barangay chair of the fishing village of Cato in Infanta town, home of 30 fishing boats that frequent the shoal.

Jowe Legaspi, Cato barangay councilman, said there should be no conditions on Filipino fishermen going to fish at the disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

When he visited Cagayan on Sunday, Mr. Duterte said he and Chinese officials spoke about issues related to the rich fishing ground, among them about allowing Filipino fishermen into the shoal and preserving its lagoon.

Scarborough Shoal, also known to Filipinos as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, is a triangular chain of reefs and rocks surrounding a 46-kilometer lagoon (spanning an area of 150 square km). It is about 240 km southwest of Infanta, Pangasinan.

China seized the shoal after a two-month standoff with the Philippines in 2012 and has since barred Filipinos from fishing there.

Invoke ruling

Legaspi on Monday said President Duterte should invoke the July 12 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, instead of heeding the dictates of the Chinese government.

The tribunal ruled that China’s claim had no basis in international law and that it had violated the Philippine sovereign right to fish and explore for resources in waters within its 370-km exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea.

Legaspi was one of the 16 Infanta fishermen who asked the United Nations in September last year to direct China to respect their rights to their traditional fishing ground at the shoal.

Maniago said the possibility the shoal’s lagoon would soon be off limits has disturbed the Infanta fishermen because that is where the fish abound.

Legaspi said fishing outside the shoal’s lagoon had always been dangerous, especially during low tide when fishing boats risk hitting the coral.

“What they should ban are illegal fishing [methods], like cyanide and blast fishing, which were rampant in the 1990s because no one stopped them,” he said.

Lost courage

In Zambales province, fishermen said they would rather err on the side of caution than risk their lives as they venture out to the West Philippine
Sea, despite Mr. Duterte’s assurances.

“We’ve lost the courage to go back to the shoal because the Chinese Coast Guard remains hostile towards us,” said Aniceto Achina, 40, boat captain of fishing vessel “JJM.”

“It’s also disheartening that our government has neglected us. We’ve lost an important source of income,” he said on Monday.

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