Aquino: PHL will continue 'showing the flag' at Panatag Shoal

President Benigno Aquino III on Monday said the Philippines will continue “showing the flag” in the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal to assert claim over the area.   He said this as the Philippines deployed a ship from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to the shoal, where Philippine and Chinese vessels have been engaged in a standoff for more than three weeks now.   “We will remain showing the flag,” Aquino told reporters in a chance interview.   The BFAR marine control ship will join a Coast Guard search-and-rescue vessel that is already in the area.   Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, chief of the Armed Forces’ North Luzon Command, said the marine control ship was sent to the area on check on the “marine condition” in the shoal.   China, on the other hand, has three new Chinese fishing vessels at the vicinity of Panatag Shoal, according to Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez. “We continue to ask them [Chinese diplomats] the reason why they would like to aggravate the situation when in fact the agreement with the [DFA] Secretary and the Chinese representative was that no action should be undertaken to escalate the situation in the Scarborough shoal,” Hernandez said at press briefing.   No untoward incident   Aquino said there has been no “untoward incident” reported at the shoal so far.   “Sa report ni Coast Guard commandant wala naman daw issue so far, no untoward incident, ‘yun lang ang update. We are still maintaining our presence,” he said.   “The Coast Guard will maintain presence. We believe these are our waters therefore our vessels have the right to be in our waters,” he added.     China-Russia military exercises   Aquino believes the joint military exercises between China and Russia do not add to the tension between the Philippines and China.   “The tension is China is a superpower, it’s a nuclear power. Parang the Russian exercise does not really have anymore bearing than what is already there. By themselves napalaki na nila,” he said.   However, he said it reaffirmed that “there is a need to go through the various international bodies to settle the dispute.”   “The dispute has to be settled, it can’t be left hanging forever after,” Aquino said.   Talks continue    Hernandez said talks will continue on the level of DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario and Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing and the foreign minister of China and the Philippine charge d’affaires in Beijing.   He added that communication lines between the two countries are still open to try to work out a diplomatic solution to the issue at the soonest possible time.   The standoff began last April 8 when the Philippine Navy caught eight Chinese vessels allegedly poaching on waters near the shoal.   The Philippine Navy, however, failed to arrest the fisherman after two Chinese maritime vessels blocked its path. The Chinese fishing vessels has already left the area, taking the endangered marine species with them. UNCLOS   Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Panatag Shoal is part of the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.   Although both the Philippines and China are signatories to the UNCLOS, China continues to claim ownership of the shoal, saying it was first discovered in the 13th century during the Yuan dynasty.   The Philippines, however, has rejected China’s historical claim to the disputed territory, saying “a mere showing of long usage is not enough” to acquire a territory.    The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, for its part warned of more conflicts in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) if China deploys more surveillance and patrol ships to assert its sovereignty in the region.   “More immediate conflict risks lie in the growing number of law enforcement and paramilitary vessels playing an increasing role in disputed territories without a clear legal framework,” the group said in a recent report. — KBK, GMA News