Chinese fishing vessel grounded at Tubbataha reef
By Jerry E. Esplanada, Redempto D. Anda
Inquirer Southern Luzon, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Tubbataha Reefs. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — As salvage operations on the grounded US minesweeper in Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea came to a close, a Chinese fishing vessel was reported to have struck the north reef close to midnight Monday.
Initial reports from the Tubbataha Management Office identified the vessel as “being of Chinese origin,” a fishing boat with the marking 63168 and a crew of 12 Chinese nationals. It was not clear from the report if the vessel had authority to enter Philippine waters.
The vessel got stuck at Tubbataha’s north islet where the Ranger Station is located.
Naval Forces West Commander Joseph Rostum Peña said by phone that they have dispatched the BRP Romblon early Tuesday morning and it was expected to be at the grounding site by mid-morning.
The naval command also scrambled an aircraft to conduct surveillance.
Lt. Commander Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, disclosed Tuesday that the vessel, “with bow number 63168, ran aground around 11:40 p.m. Monday about 1.1 nautical miles east of the ranger station of the Tubbataha Reef National Park.”
Citing reports from the PCG-Palawan district and the Tubbataha Park Management Office, he said the command’s search-and-rescue ship “BRP Romblon (SARV 3503), dispatched to the site, is on site and closely guarding the Chinese boat and those on board.”
The Chinese vessel’s crew are “most probably poachers and illegal entrants,” according to Balilo, also chief of the Coast Guard public affairs office.
“PCG personnel on board the BRP Romblon plan to escort them to the Palawan office of the National Committee on Illegal Entrants,” he told the INQUIRER.
Balilo added, “park rangers are conducting an inventory and interrogation of the Chinese nationals on board the vessel.”
On March 30, a US Navy-contracted salvage team removed the stern, the last remaining part of the USS Guardian, from Tubbataha Reef.
The Coast Guard-monitored salvage operations started on February 22. However, they were stalled at least four times due to bad weather in the reef area.
Sometime in mid-July, a Chines frigate reportedly ran aground at Hasa-Hasa, or Half Moon shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
The shoal is just 60 nautical miles from Palawan province, well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.
At least five Chinese vessels and a number of smaller boats immediately rescued the distressed ship.
In a statement, Beijing confirmed that the frigate was on a “routine patrol” when it got stranded on the shoal.
In April 2012, Chinese ships blocked the Philippine Navy from arresting Chinese fishermen at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, also in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
The incident resulted in a three-month standoff between Manila and Beijing.
The shoal, called Panatag and Bajo de Masinloc by the Philippines, is also within the country’s EEZ but China insists the entire South China Sea as its historical territory, even up to the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
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