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COLLISION AN ISOLATED CASE

PHL gov’t not stopping Filipinos from fishing in Recto Bank area


There is no reason for the Philippine government to stop Filipino fishermen from fishing in the Recto Bank area, a part of the country’s exclusive economic zone, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said Monday, noting that the June 9  “ramming incident” involving Chinese and Filipino vessels was an isolated incident.

“Walang dahilan para sabihin namin sa mangingisdang Pilipino na huwag mangisda ... Assessing on and basing on the statement of the witness, we consider this as an isolated incident,” he told reporters during a press conference at the Agriculture Department headquarters in Quezon City.

“This has not happened in the past in the same area at ang sabi ni Richard Blasa, hindi naman sila hinarass,” Piñol said.

Blasa was the cook onboard  the F/B GEM-VIR 1 when the incident happened.

“In fact, in the past tabi-tabi naman silang nangingisda. Ito ‘yung unang incident na may nabangga o binangga na fishing boat ng Pilipino. I do not see any reason to advise Filipinos to stay away from the area,” he added.

In the same press briefing, Piñol presented Blasa to the media. The Cabinet official, however, said he advised the cook not to issue any statement and the Piñol will present Blasa’s affidavit to the Cabinet cluster meeting this Monday afternoon.

Piñol met earlier with Blasa and discussed the incident. The cook was the only one supposedly awake when the F/B GEM-VIR 1 was allegedly rammed by a Chinese ship.

The Agriculture chief noted Blasa would not be meeting President Rodrigo Duterte, and that he had no idea where that information came from.

“Hindi namin alam saan galing ‘yung impormasyon na ‘yun. It did not come from us. I cannot commit the President to any meeting without confirming with Malacañang,” he said.

It was earlier reported that boat captain Jonel Insigne would also meet the Chief Executive but backed out as he was experiencing trauma from the incident.

Duterte has not spoken yet about the issue, but Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo noted that the President did in fact to voiced out his reaction through “alter egos” in the government.

In a statement released by the Chinese Embassy of the Philippines, China claimed that Philippines boats besieged the Chinese vessel. It also denied that the last June 9 incident was a case of hit-and-run. —Anna Felicia Bajo/VDS, GMA News

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