Philippines says no deal over fishing disputed reef

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

Days after fishermen from the Philippines are reported to have been allowed by China to return to a reef both sides claim in the South China Sea, top national government officials have said that no written agreements have been made with Beijing.

National security adviser Hermogenes Esperon said in a statement issued to reporters in Manila on Monday that Filipino fishermen who went to the small but strategic Scarborough Shoal which China has guarded for years "attest that they were not driven away nor were accosted".

“There are no written agreements or rules... And for the record, from Oct. 17 to 27, there had been only two Chinese ships in Bajo de Masinloc: a research ship last 19th and a Frigate [navy] on the 20th," the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Esperon as saying.

"That’s compared to a daily average of five People’s Liberation Army Navy and four Chinese Coast Guard ships in the past."

On Saturday, reports claimed that Filipino fishermen were no longer being intercepted at the shoal for the first time in years, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during last week's state visit to China.

The shoal was the site of a standoff between Philippine and Chinese vessels in 2012 when the Philippine navy tried to apprehend Chinese vessels fishing in the area (which the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea).

Following the incident, China restricted access and the government of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, brought an arbitration case against Beijing in a Hague-based international tribunal.

In July, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said fishermen from the Philippines had traditional fishing rights in the shoal but China had interfered with these rights by restricting access.

Beijing declared the court's award "null and void".

Saturday’s GMA report quoted Noel Daruca, a crew member of a boat that fished at the shoal, as saying that when they first arrived at the shoal Tuesday, Chinese Coast Guard personnel had told them "go!go!go!" but the crew was not denied access the next day.

According to the fishermen, only a small Chinese Coast Guard vessel remains inside a lagoon at the shoal. They believed the change could be a result of Duterte’s discussions with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

On Saturday, Deputy United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Beijing that Washington would welcome China’s withdrawal.

He said it would be consistent with the international arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims.

Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay said Sunday in a Facebook post that it might be too early to conclude that Duterte’s approach was working.

“But then again we have no other option but to comply with international law, as China is fully aware that it is also bound by the rules-based system that has been created for the settlement of international disputes,” Yasay said.