PCG rescues injured Chinese seafarer off Antique

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescued a Chinese seafarer, who had his left thumb cut, off Caluya town in Antique province – a move that begs juxtaposition with China Coast Guard’s recent actions in the West Philippine Sea when it was a Filipino who suffered a similar fate.

The PCG rescue of the Chinese national, who is an engineer of Hongkong-flagged bulk carrier MV BBG Qinzhou, happened while the ship was about 20.69 nautical miles west of Semirara Port at around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 4.

“The 35-year-old second engineer said he was accidentally cut by a fan blade or metal, resulting in significant pain and requiring hospital treatment,” the PCG said in a statement on Friday.

On Thursday afternoon, the PCG deployed its BRP Kalanggaman to a rendezvous area some 1.5 nautical miles off Nogas Island in Anini-y, Antique, and safely evacuated the Chinese national at around 6:00 p.m.

“This only shows the Filipino values of kind-heartedness, helpfulness, and good neighborliness of our people,” security expert Chester Cabalza told INQUIRER.net on Friday.

“Filipinos don’t take advantage of the misfortune of other races, in this case, the Chinese crew who had his finger cut,” Cabalza, president and founder of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, also said.

In contrast, a Filipino soldier who had a similar injury was met with an unsavory response from the CCG.

Last June 17, a CCG boat continued to ram a Philippine Navy’s boat while navy personnel were applying a tourniquet on the right hand of a sailor who lost his thumb due to an earlier ramming incident during the resupply mission for BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, as shown by a video shared by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The CCG actions during naval outpost resupply led to what AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. previously deemed as “looting” of seven firearms and destruction of two navy boats.

Brawner said China should pay P60 million in damages.