Chinese fishers caught in Tubbataha to be charged with attempted bribery

Twelve Chinese fishers on board a fishing vessel that ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park will face bribery and illegal entry charges after they reportedly attempted to pay off marine park rangers, a statement from the park management said Tuesday. "Marine park rangers now have custody of the US$2400 with which the fishers reportedly attempted to bribe them," the statement from the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) read in part. Fishing nets were found inside the vessel, which was sighted just before midnight Monday, but no fish or marine life were found in them, the TMO said. The 12 Chinese fishers will face charges for the violation of Sections 19 (Unauthorized Entry), 20 (Damages to the Reefs), 26 (Destroying, Disturbing Resources), and Section 27 (Poaching by Foreigners) of Republic Act 10067 or the Tubbataha Act of 2009.   "A case for corruption of public officials under Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines will also be filed. The Chinese nationals will also face administrative charges aside from the criminal charges as provided in the RA 10067," said the TMO. The Philippine Coast Guard failed in its initial attempts to float the 48-meter Chinese fishing vessel, which weighs more or less 500 gross tons, and has decided to transport the fishers to Puerto Princesa instead for the filing of the necessary charges, the TMO added. The steel-hulled unnamed vessel, with bow number 63168, is the seventh Chinese fishing boat caught inside the park since 2002, according to the TMO. It is only the latest case of foreign vessels entering the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a World Heritage Site and no-take marine protected area in the middle of the Sulu Sea, without permission, the TMO said. More than 660 Chinese poachers in Palawan As of 2010, over a thousand foreigners have been arrested and charged for poaching in the waters of Palawan in the last decade alone, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reported. Over 660 of the poachers were Chinese, WWF said. "Sentences have historically proven rare, under fear of damaging international relations with neighboring countries," WWF said in 2010, when 13 Vietnamese poachers were jailed and fined for killing 101 endangered Hawksbill Turtles. "In Palawan alone, almost 600 Chinese have been arrested fishing illegally over the last nine years. Some vessels were apprehended repeatedly. Many more were never caught. Hoi Wan is no longer an isolated case—it is part of a growing pattern spreading throughout the Coral Triangle," WWF said in 2006. That was the year the Chinese fishing vessel M/V Hoi Wan was stopped by authorities, who found fishermen poaching off Tubbataha Reef. In the same year, 24 Chinese blast fishermen on the M/V Kwok Wai Ming were caught poaching off Mangsee Island in Balabac, Palawan.The prosecutor's office in Palawan initially dropped the case, before reversing their decision early in September 2007, according to a report that year. In April of 2009, seven Chinese poachers aboard an unmarked speedboat were arrested near Cauayan Isle in El Nido. Only one case, the January 2004 arrest of 17 Chinese poachers caught with 54 dead turtles, has ever led to a conviction, it said. "Kid-glove" treatment "What really compounds the problem is the issue of foreign poachers, especially Chinese. Park officials have filed several cases against large Chinese poachers, only to have the cases dismissed after the intercession of the Department of Foreign Affairs,"  according to an article from the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism by Ed Lingao and Justine Espina-Letargo written in 2010. WWF Tawi-Tawi project manager Filemon Romero said in a 2007 report that the Philippines should stop giving intruders the "kid-glove" treatment, after a Chinese poaching vessel was discovered between the isles of Batu Mandi and Mambahinawan in the Sulu Archipelago, with 200 adult turtles and over 10,000 eggs. The poachers were charged with violating the Philippine Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act (RA9147), which carries a fine of up to P1 million, along with a six-year jail term, the report said. Emboldened The latest incident involving a foreign vessel occurred three months after the minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground on the reef, destroying more than 2,000 square meters of coral reef. The US Navy relieved the vessel's chief officer and three crew members, but the Philippine government did not press any charges against the intruders. “The Chinese government and its ships most likely have been emboldened from the Philippine handling of the recent grounding of US Navy ship on Tubbataha. They observed that it is very easy to enter the Tubbataha Marine Park and if caught there is a minimal risk for prosecution," Clemente Bautista, National Coordinator of Kalikasan PNE, said in a press release. “Filipinos preciously value our national treasures like the Tubbataha Marine Park. Any foreign intrusion to our territorial waters or infringement on our national patrimony should be dealt with accordingly. Whether it is Chinese or Americans, they must pay the damages and if proven should serve time in jail,” Bautista said. Meanwhile, Malacañang said park rangers were already conducting the necessary investigation into the incident. "The Tubbataha Management Office has alerted the Provincial Committee on Illegal Entrants about the fishermen on board the boat. The PCG will release further details as may be necessary," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte told GMA News Online in a text message. — Carmela G. Lapeña/BM/YA/HS, GMA News