‘May magagawa ba tayo?’ Palace says of reported harassment of Filipino fishers in Scarborough Shoal

Malacañang on Monday said it could not do anything for now about China's assertiveness in the South China Sea following the release of a documentary regarding Filipino fishermen being driven away from the Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal by the Chinese Coast Guard.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said those behind the documentary, which was released by the camp of senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares over the weekend, must show proof of the alleged harassment before the Philippine government could file a diplomatic protest.

"You have to show proof that that is still happening now. Because if it is still happening now, then we will protest. We will not allow that to happen to our fishermen," Panelo said at a news conference.

Panelo was then asked if whether he saw no problem with China driving away Filipino fishermen from the Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop teeming with maritime resources that is within Manila's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

"May magagawa ba tayo eh sila ang may control as of now, ‘di ba? Mayroon silang puwersa doon. We can only protest like any other country na nagki-claim, like Vietnam. Iyun lang ang magagawa natin eh. You want us to declare war against them?" the Palace official replied.

"Hindi ba they have control kasi nagtayo sila ng ano nila doon, puwersa nila. Mayroon silang island doon, may mga military sila doon."

Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte opted to hold dialogues with China over the maritime dispute since the international arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea cannot be enforced at the moment.

The 2016 ruling of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration said that Beijing violated the rights of Filipinos, who were blocked by the Chinese Coast Guard from fishing in the Panatag Shoal off Zambales for years even if the shoal is considered a common fishing ground for Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino fishermen.

"Tell me, has any arbitral ruling by this international court been enforced previously? Dahil kung meron, eh may pag-asa tayo; kung wala sa ngayon, wala tayong munang magagawa. So pag-usapan na lang natin sa negotiation, diplomatic muna," Panelo said.

Protests against China's activities to gain control of the resource-rich South China Sea have recently reached the International Criminal Court following a communication filed by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

Panelo said the ICC has no jurisdiction over the matter since both the Philippines and China are not state parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the tribunal.

He also questioned why Del Rosario, foreign affairs secretary during the administration of then-President Benigno Aquino III, did not immediately take action on Beijing’s reclamation activities and militarization of its artificial islands.

The Palace spokesman said he already asked for documents from an unnamed source to back such claim.

"Somebody just told me – and I’m asking for documentation – that when he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs, when China was still starting to build a structure half the size of a basketball court, he was already informed officially on that, in fact, pictures were given him or DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs], and subsequent structures. But they ignored it," Panelo said.

"He ignored it because, according to my source, he does want to rock the boat...if that is true, then … eh mali eh. Bakit noon hindi ka gumalaw? Ngayon ka lang naggagagalaw kung wala ka na sa posisyon, when at that time you could have made protests, made noise."

Panelo also said the communication filed against China's President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials with the ICC was more a political action than a legal one. — RSJ, GMA News