Friends and enemies?
It seems the oceans are not exempt from the "nanlaban" phenomenon. Two Vietnamese fishermen were apparently killed in the waters off Bolinao, Pangasinan. The incident allegedly took place well within the country's exclusive economic zone. Vietnamese fishing vessels were spotted 34 nautical miles from Bolinao by a Philippine Navy ship on its way to Subic. When the Navy ship called out to the boats, they started to flee. Two were killed in the incident, and five fishermen were arrested. The government has promised Vietnam a fair and thorough investigation into the incident. The Vietnamese embassy will be involved throughout the investigation.
According to the Navy report, one of the fishing boats executed "dangerous maneuvers", prompting the Navy to fire warning shots. The boat even collided with the Navy ship. When the fishing boat stopped and was boarded, they found the two bodies. The two dead fishermen had bullet wounds. Their vessel was also hit. It is not yet clear if the Navy was responsible for these, since they claim they fired warning shots. But the fishermen were not armed, and no weapons were found on their ship. Only the fish that they had caught was found on their boat. No other contraband was discovered. Did the warning shots inadvertently hit the fishing boat? Was there really a need for the Navy to fire if the fishermen were not shooting back at them?
But many are now asking if the Navy would have reacted in the same manner, if the fishing vessels were Chinese. Would they have issued warnings, fired warning shots and given chase to the vessels? Or would they be left alone because "we cannot go to war with China?" Does that mean we can go to war with Vietnam? Many Chinese fishing vessels have stayed in Panatag Shoal for months. Our fishermen cannot even enter the shoal itself, and are only allowed to fish outside its perimeter. And yet Panatag Shoal is also well within our exclusive economic zone.
It is certain that Vietnam will not be happy with this incident, even if the government vows a fair and thorough investigation. We can only hope the incident does not strain our relations with Vietnam. A similar incident where a Taiwanese fisherman was killed by personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard strained the country's relations with Taiwan, where many of our countrymen are working. We seem to be vigilant in enforcing our exclusive economic zones with everyone except China, for reasons President Duterte is quick to cite. But we certainly do not need enemies in ASEAN, especially with Vietnam having similar territorial issues with China.
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