The Chinese Coastguard Allowed PH Fishermen Into Panatag Shoal
CHINESE COASTGUARD UNBLOCKS – A group of Fisherman reportedly fished on Panatag Shoal or more popularly known as ‘Scarborough Shoal’ undisturbed by the Chinese Coastguard.
In the previous reports, Chinese Coast Guards do not usually allow Filipino Fishermen to fish on the disputed waters.
On March 23, A blockage may have been removed by the Chinese Coast Guard after two former officials from the Philippines filed a complaint against President Xi Jinping of China. The complaint was brought by the two to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The people behind the filing of complaints were former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. They both filed the complaint a month ago because of persisting actions taken by China insisting that they own the entire South China Sea.
This is based on an article from Inquirer. It is, they say, on behalf of the Filipinos who were “persecuted and injured”.
Fearing that the Chinese Coastguard might be upset because of the complaints, fishermen worried about sailing on the disputed waters for a while.
A group of Fishermen from Brgy. Cato, Infanta, Pangasinan sailed to try out the waters and came back with good news.
Thursday – When the group returned, Benjamin Sumagunday, skipper of the fishing boat Ruvina 1, revealed that the Chinese Coastguard who usually sent them away allowed them to fish freely.
According to article, Sumagunday said that he and his group were even allowed to fish inside the shoal’s lagoon which is something they never allowed the Filipino Fishermen before.
On the other hand, Sumagunday also said that the Panatag Shoal is no longer a rich source for fishing than it used to be. Saying that there were more than 20 fishing boats around the area, Panatag Shoal could be overfished.
That is all there is to it, at least for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.
