Esperon belies harassment reports on PH fisherfolk in WPS

MANILA – National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Friday belied reports of alleged harassment of Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.

Speaking during a virtual presser on “Fisheries Management in the West Philippine Sea”, Esperon said there were reports coming from fisheries groups claiming that Filipino fishermen are harassed by foreign vessels and prevented from entering Bajo De Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), which is around 124 nautical miles west off the coast of Zambales.

“But upon verification, the reports are mostly concocted. We have the fisherfolk who can speak for themselves, they were reported to have been harassed but in one or two instances, we went down to that and we found out they were not real. It’s another group saying that they were harassed,” said Esperon, who is also chair of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines and China figured in a tense stand-off in Bajo de Masinloc in 2012, which eventually resulted in the Chinese getting control of the area.

“It remained that way up to 2016 up to the time that President Rodrigo R. Duterte visited China and had a dialogue with President Xi Jinping. After that, they recognized that we have fishing rights over the area, Bajo De Masinloc, which is a traditional fishing ground and in fact, this was mentioned, specified in the Arbitral Ruling, that it is part of traditional fishing ground,” Esperon said.

But shortly after Duterte’s visit, the NSA said improvements were noted in the conditions of Filipino fishermen fishing in Bajo de Masinloc.

“They were allowed to go to the area even within 12nm (nautical miles) and later on we can see small support fishing boats getting inside BDM which remains today,” he added.