Commodore Jay Tarriela, Spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard for the West Philippine Sea, speaks to the members of the media during a news forum in Quezon City on May 4, 2024. INQUIRER.net file photo / ARNEL TACSON
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday revealed Chinese fishermen’s illegal activities in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, revealed that Chinese fishermen, who are suspected members of Chinese maritime militia, were suspected to be involved in poaching and harvesting of giant claims since 2016.
Tarriela also said empty giant clams have been gathered and piled up by Chinese entities to anchor their service boats at the shallow part of the shoal, according to underwater documentation in 2018.
READ: Group says Chinese fishermen harvesting corals, clams in shoal for a decade now
During a maritime domain awareness in April 2019, the PCG also learned that small Chinese service boats were scouring the seabed inside the shoal.
“This underwater scouring was likely done deliberately to search for more giant clams, eventually leading to ‘reef scarring’ and the destruction of critical marine habitats,” Tarriela’s presentation stated, in a press conference in Manila.
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Why only now?
Tarriela confirmed that this documentation has never been shown before the public.
But why reveal this only now?
“We believe that bringing out these footages and images would show the real behavior of China in the previous years, even before President [Ferdinand] “Bongbong” Marcos [Jr.] assumed office,” Tarriela said.
Duterte pivoted to China, but Marcos reversed this move, as he green-lighted joint patrols and military exercises with the United States in the West Philippine Sea and allowed Washington access to four more Philippine military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which angered Beijing.
The Marcos administration’s policy shift also included the government’s so-called “transparency initiative” in the West Philippine Sea.
“[This] aligns with our transparency strategy, the objective of [which] is to give the right information to the Filipino people,” Tarriela said of PCG’s bombshell revelation. “These confirmations were not released before.”