SUBIC, Zambales. Chinese Coast Guard rubber boats rammed and damaged a boat carrying 11 Filipino fishermen at Panatag Shoal (international name: Scarborough Shoal) last month, in a move likely to heighten tensions between the Philippines and China in the hotly disputed South China Sea.
The fishermen, who arrived in Subic after a 16-day fishing trip to Panatag Shoal, said they were driven away by the Chinese Coast Guard twice, on March 5 and 6.
China seized the shoal from the Philippines after a two-month standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels in 2012.
It has since cordoned off the shoal, driving away Filipino fishermen from their traditional fishing ground.
Junmar Pumicpic, 25, captain of the FB Bubhoy, said they were fishing near the shoal around 9 a.m. on March 5 when Chinese coast guards in rubber boats arrived and drove them away.
Well within PH territory
The shoal is located 230 kilometers from Masinloc, Zambales province, well within the Philippines’ 370-km exclusive economic zone. It is also known as Bajo de Masinloc to residents of this coastal town.
“One of their rubber boats carried three men in uniform. They approached us and told us in English to leave,” Pumicpic said.
“This is China Coast Guard. Go back to Subic,” he said, quoting one of the Chinese coast guards as saying to them.
Another member of the fishing trip, Reynante Caitum, 22, said the Chinese coast guards engaged them in a “tug of war,” pulling the rope tied to a small boat that was aboard the fishing vessel.
“They wanted to get our service boat, but we resisted. We lifted the anchor to pull away and save our lives,” Caitum said.
Pumicpic said the Chinese coast guards came again on March 6 and drove them away shining blinding laser devices and powerful lights on them. The incidents were captured on video, Pumicpic said.