Filipino crew returns with fish from disputed shoal

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) – Filipino fishermen have returned with their first catch from a disputed shoal in four years, a week after President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Beijing, according to a local report Saturday.

News broadcaster GMA quoted the returned fishermen as expressing their surprise at not having been denied access to the Scarborough Shoal -- also known as Panatag -- by Chinese Coast Guard vessels Wednesday evening.

The report comes a day after presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told a briefing that Chinese ships had not been observed at the shoal in an eastern part of the South China Sea -- which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea -- for several days.

"For the past 3 days, it has been observed that there are no longer any Chinese Coast Guard vessels and that Filipino fishing boats are no longer being intercepted," he said.

After returning from his visit to China last week, Duterte had expressed hope that Filipino fishermen would soon be able to fish at the shoal.

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.

Following the incident, China restricted access to the area 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.