4 of 10 Filipinos want punishment for Chinese crew in Recto Bank incident —Pulse Asia

Around four in 10 Filipinos want punishment for crew members of the Chinese vessel that hit and allegedly abandoned a Filipino fishing boat in Recto Bank on June 9, according to a survey released by Pulse Asia on Friday.

Conducted from June 24 to 30, the survey found that 36% of Filipinos said they would like the government to urge China to impose sanctions on its citizens who figured in the allision in Recto Bank, an oil and gas rich tablemount in the West Philippine Sea being coveted by Beijing.

Following the incident, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest with China and said that proper sanctions must be imposed against the Chinese crew who allegedly abandoned the 22 Filipino fishermen until a Vietnamese fishing vessel rescued them.

Asking China to slap sanctions was the most preferred option in Metro Manila (46%), the rest of Luzon (45%), and classes D and E (36% and 34%, respectively).

Twenty-six percent of the 1,200 respondents said the Chinese government should be made to pay for the damages incurred that sank the fishing vessel Gem-Vir 1 while 19% said China should present those who are involved in the incident before a Philippine court.

Ten percent of Filipinos urged the Philippines and China to craft rules to address similar maritime incidents while 8% said the Philippines should bring the boat sinking incident before the United Nations General Assembly.

Only 2% of the respondents admitted they did not have enough knowledge to give an opinion on the issue.

The same survey also showed that China is the least trusted country by Filipinos.

The survey found that 74% of Filipinos cannot trust China too much or not trust at all. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents had the same sentiment against Russia.

In the case of China, 35% of Filipinos are of the opinion that the Philippines should not trust China too much while 39% say China should not be trusted at all.

Small to huge majorities of Filipinos opined the Philippines should extend a “great deal/fair amount of trust” to the United States (89%), Japan (79%), Australia (76%), Canada (71%), Malaysia (63%), the United Kingdom (56%), Indonesia (56%) and Vietnam (53%).

According to Pulse Asia, public opinion on the matter remains essentially unchanged between December 2018 and June 2019. —KBK, GMA News