Duterte accepts China offer for joint probe of Recto Bank incident, wants neutral country as member

President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the offer of China for a joint investigation with the Philippines on the June 9 ramming of a Filipino boat by a Chinese vessel in Recto Bank, Malacañang said Saturday.

Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President welcomed and accepted the offer “to determine what really transpired in Recto Bank and find a satisfactory closure to this episode.”

“To this end, the President wants the creation of a joint investigating committee that shall be composed of three groups of highly qualified and competent individuals, with Philippines and China having one representative each, and a third member coming from a neutral country,” he said.

Having separate investigations by the two countries, Panelo said, could raise speculation and accusation of bias.

“Such circumstance will put any finding by any side open to question and place the entire issue in a confused state,” he said.

“A joint and impartial investigation will not only promote the expedient resolution of the issue, it will also be in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which places paramount emphasis on the use of peaceful means to resolve international disputes.”

The Palace’s pronouncement came after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Friday that “there will be no joint investigation.” He said the Philippines and China will conduct their respective investigations.

Locsin also said a joint investigation “trenches on each other’s sovereignty” but Panelo assured the public that the Philippine government was “not relinquishing any inch of our sovereign rights, nor compromising the rights of our 22 fishermen.”

“We are demanding justice for our countrymen, and we are using all legal means toward that end,” Panelo said.

The Filipino crew members were left at the Recto Bank after their fishing boat was hit by a Chinese vessel causing it to sink. They were later rescued by a Vietnamese vessel.

The Filipino fishermen claimed the Chinese vessel intentionally hit their boat and abandoned them when the seacraft began to sink.

But after meeting with Philippine officials on Wednesday, the fishermen retracted their earlier statement, saying the allision could have been an accident.

Both Duterte and the Chinese Foreign Ministry had described the allision as an accident. The President said on Friday the incident was not an attack on Philippine sovereignty because it did not take place in the territorial sea.

A Chinese embassy statement confirmed that it was a Chinese vessel that hit the Philippine fishing boat. It said the Chinese wanted to help the Filipinos but was afraid of getting besieged by other Filipino boats nearby.

The statement said the Chinese vessel was initially besieged by seven to eight Filipino boats and was trying to escape when it hit the ill-fated fishing boat.

The Filipino fishermen belied China’s claim. — BAP, GMA News