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| Sen. Sotto compiled photo from Google (ctto) |
Manila, Philippines – Senate
President Vicente Sotto III said the reported collision between a Chinese
vessel and a Filipino fishing boat near Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea
could probably “an accident.”
This is how he initially
described the incident as he seeks for more details and investigation on the
reported sinking incident of the Filipino fishing boat by the Chinese.
“Nevertheless, (the)
DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) should inform the Chinese government of the
incident and find out what happened,” Sotto added.
Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana
said that the F/B Gimber 1 with 22 Filipino fishermen on board was anchored at
the time when it was hit by the Chinese fishing vessel.
“A collision between a Chinese and Filipino
vessel (FB Gimber1) was reported by Filipino fishermen near the Recto Bank in
the West Philippine on the evening of June 9, 2019,” Lorenzana said.
“The collision sank the Filipino
vessel.”
the Department of National Defense (DND) chief said in a statement, citing
information from Filipino fishermen..
“We denounce the actions of the
Chinese fishing vessel for immediately leaving the incident scene abandoning
the 22 Filipino crewmen to the mercy of the elements,” Lorenzana said.
“We condemn in the
strongest terms the cowardly action of the Chinese fishing vessel and its crew
for abandoning the Filipino crew. This is not the expected action from a
responsible and friendly people," he
added.
The Philippine boat, the DND said, had 22 fishermen on board
who were later rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel. The Philippine Coast
Guard said the Philippine vessel came from Occidental Mindoro.
Malacanang has urged China to investigate the recent collision of a Chinese vessel and a Filipino fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea and impose sanctions on Chinese fishermen who left the Filipino crewmen to swim for their lives.
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