DFA chief: PHL ready to send back ships to Panatag once weather improves

The Philippines will send back ships it pulled out from the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc once the weather improves, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

President Benigno Aquino III ordered the withdrawal of two Philippine vessels in June, easing a tense standoff that erupted in April 10.

“We’re waiting for better conditions,” Del Rosario told reporters during the Eid El Fitr reception at the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday evening.

“I think the President believes that this is not the proper time because of the very bad weather,” he said.

At least three Chinese vessels have been sighted at the shoal by the Philippine Navy in its latest reconnaissance flight over the area, Del Rosario said.

Barriers set up by China at the mouth of the shoal to block the entry of any Philippine vessel that will attempt to enter the lagoon have remained, he added.

Standoff

The standoff erupted when the Philippine Navy spotted eight Chinese fishing boats off the shoal, which Manila maintains is within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone as provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both countries, along with 162 other nations, are signatories to the treaty.

A Philippine Navy ship was about to arrest the Chinese fishermen in possession of large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and live sharks, but was prevented by two Chinese maritime surveillance ships.

Panatag Shoal, a U-shaped rock formation with a sprawling lagoon teeming with rich maritime resources, is located 124 nautical miles from Masinloc town in Zambales. It is 472 nautical miles from China’s nearest coastal province of Hainan.

China rejected Manila’s assertion over the shoal, saying proximity alone can not be a basis for ownership. It said it was the first to have discovered Panatag, citing ancient maps to prove its claim.

Apart from Panatag, China also claims the whole of South China Sea, also known as West Philippine Sea, including areas that overlap with the Philippines’ territorial waters.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan all have competing claims over resource-rich waters harboring vast oil and gas deposits within the West Philippine Sea. 

Sanshua City

In a bid to reinforce its claim, Beijing recently established a new city called Sansha under its southern Hainan province to politically administer its claimed territories in the West Philippine Sea.

The conflicts have spilled over to the Association of South East Asian Nations, the 10-member regional bloc which includes four of the claimants – Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.

For the first time in the bloc’s 45-year existence, ASEAN failed to issue a traditional joint communiqué after Cambodia, a known Chinese ally and this year’s chairman, insistently blocked moves to mention the disputes in the document.

Other ASEAN members are: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

Del Rosario said he would travel to a number of ASEAN member countries to explain the Philippine position before the regional group holds an annual summit of its heads of state in Cambodia in November. — RSJ, GMA News