Palace not interested if Chinese vessel in Recto Bank incident manned by militia or not

July 9, 2019

Malacañang said on Tuesday it is not interested to know if the crew of a Chinese vessel that figured in the sinking of a Filipino fishing boat in Recto Bank were militiamen or plain fisherfolk.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace is more interested to hold liable who were responsible in the ramming of  Gem-ver carrying 22 Filipino fishermen and abandoning them in the middle of the sea on June 9.

"Not anymore. We are more interested on their liability of what they did to the Filipinos - that's most important," he said.

In the joint report submitted by the Philippine Coast Guard and the Maritime Industry Authority to Malacañang, Panelo said it was not stated who were manning the Chinese vessel, whether they were Chinese maritime militia or really fishermen.

He admitted there was no way for the government to know who manned the Chinese vessel.

But he noted that the Chinese government mentioned it was a Chinese vessel.

"What does it mean? It means not militia - that's what they said. The problem, we cannot even—how can we determine that? There's no witness. Actually, they were just guessing that it was Chinese vessel – it's good they admitted. It was night, dark, how would you know that if they were armed or not," Panelo said. Celerina Monte/DMS