Philippines, Vietnam trying to find group behind killing, abduction of Vietnamese sailors

February 21, 2017

The Philippines and Vietnam are trying to find out the group behind last Sunday’s attack on a fishing vessel where one Vietnamese was killed and six were abducted off Tawi-tawi.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay jr said this topic and the South China Sea were tackled in his bilateral meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Boracay.

“We have, for my part told the FM (foreign minister) of Vietnam that we are trying to get more validation and information about this abduction and certain details,” said Yasay in a press briefing Tuesday in Boracay.

“So we do not know at this point about who are the abductors, we can only assume that they were taken by Abu Sayyaf people but this have to be verified,” Yasay added.

The military said Monday MV Giang Hai, with 17 crewmen, was attacked Sunday night in southernmost Tawi-Tawi province.

Yasay said he and Pham talked about the “peaceful resolution in South China Sea claims against China and how it is important we uphold the general principles of international law, respect for the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and adherence to the arbitral award.” DMS