{"id":222018,"date":"2019-07-08T19:34:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T23:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=222018"},"modified":"2019-07-08T19:34:17","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T23:34:17","slug":"palace-backs-pcg-marina-report-on-recto-bank-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/08\/palace-backs-pcg-marina-report-on-recto-bank-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace backs PCG-Marina report on Recto Bank incident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: F\/B GEMVER AFTER ‘COLLISION’. Photo shows the condition of F\/B Gemver after it was hit allegedly by a Chinese vessel in the waters of Recto Bank (Reed Bank) on June 9, 2019. The crew of the Chinese vessel abandoned the 22 Filipino fishermen on the ill-fated boat, who were later rescued by Vietnamese fishermen. (Photo by Philippine Navy via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday said it saw \u201cno contradiction\u201d between President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s remark describing the June 9 Recto Bank (Reed Bank) incident as a \u201clittle maritime accident\u201d and the report of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) categorizing it as a \u201cvery serious marine casualty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this reaction as the PCG and Marina provided media outlets with a copy of the 13-page report, \u201cJoint PCG-Marina Marine Safety Investigation on the Incident Involving FBCA Gem-ver.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its report, PCG-Marina concluded that the Chinese vessel \u201cfailed to take appropriate actions to avoid the risk of collision\u201d with a Filipino fishing boat anchored in the area and failed to \u201crender assistance\u201d to 22 Filipino fishermen who were abandoned at sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no contradiction. In so far as the incident is concerned, given the fact that Filipinos were placed in a dangerous situation where they could have been dead, then that\u2019s a serious marine casualty. That\u2019s serious enough,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

However, Panelo maintained that the President thinks the incident is not enough to be blown up into an international crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the President says it\u2019s not that serious enough to blow it into international crisis that is what he meant. So both of them are correct,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

“Chinese crew may be held liable”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo agreed that the Chinese crew could be held accountable, but still found it unnecessary to make a big deal out of the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s serious in the sense that when you leave our countrymen there after that accident then that\u2019s a serious matter. We will not allow that. You have to be accountable to that but you cannot blow that and make it into an international crisis,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo emphasized that the only way the Chinese crew could justify the abandonment of Filipino fishermen at sea is if their lives had been endangered.<\/p>\n

Chinese Embassy has denied the abandonment and instead claimed that their vessel was \u201cbesieged\u201d by several Filipino fishing boats.<\/p>\n

Panelo, meanwhile, pointed out that Filipinos must remember that the Chinese vessel, which allegedly rammed and abandoned a Filipino fishing boat, is a private vessel.<\/p>\n

On June 17, Duterte dismissed the sinking of a Filipino fishing boat as a \u201clittle maritime accident\u201d, insisting that he would not go to war with China over the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay from — stay out of trouble. Just build on our own. Huwag muna tayong makialam (Let\u2019s not interfere first). Do not allow a little maritime accident or intentional — go to war there,\u201d Duterte said in his speech.<\/p>\n

The Department of Foreign Affairs has already filed a diplomatic protest against China over the maritime incident.<\/p>\n

After finalizing their report, the Philippine government will share and reconcile its findings with the Chinese government in a joint probe.<\/p>\n

Opposition senators, however, have warned against a joint probe on the Recto Bank incident as it may weaken the Philippine position on territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday said it saw \u201cno contradiction\u201d between President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s remark describing the June 9 Recto Bank …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":220623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222027,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222018\/revisions\/222027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}