‘We should also arrest Chinese trespassers in EEZ’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines should give China a taste of its own medicine by arresting Chinese “trespassers” in the country’s exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Chinese vessels should first seek permission from the Philippine government if they will go into the WPS.

“We have to show the trespassers that even if we don’t have the capability… we will still try to apprehend anyone who will violate our laws and be made accountable,” he added.

Barbers maintained that this act alone will send a strong message to the international community that “our nation adheres to and respects international laws and will ensure that as a democratic republic, we must be respected as well by like-minded nations.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Tolentino, Senate chairman of the special committee on maritime and admiralty zones, told Filipino fishermen to exercise precautions as they sail to fish in their traditional fishing grounds.

Tolentino said Filipino law enforcers used to patrol Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, where many foreign fishermen, including Chinese and Vietnamese, were arrested for illegal poaching since it had always been a territory and traditional fishing grounds of the Philippines.

“And now it is the other way around. We will be detained for 60 days without trial. Yesterday, I had a meeting with Secretary (Enrique) Manalo of the Department of Foreign Affairs, that if the Chinese arrest and detain Filipino fishermen, this will be the highest level of aggression against us,” he said.

Tolentino said it is not clear where the Chinese would bring the arrested Filipino fishermen, whether in their ship or China, for detention if they made true their threats.

Masinloc Mayor Arsenia Lim of Zambales province, which covers Panatag Shoal, said in a separate statement that fishermen from Masinloc town had suffered the most, with more than half of their previous catch gone because of China’s threat to enforce its supposed domestic law on the South China Sea (SCS).

She said that folks who invested in payao (fish aggregating device) could not recoup their capital of at least P100,000 for each payao deployed