The Philippine Coast guard report on the June 9 incident at Recto Bank “does not paint our fishermen in the brightest lights”. This was the opinion of DFA Secretary Locsin after reading the report. Only the cook was awake while the rest of the crew slept – it was midnight after all – when the Chinese trawler hit the Gem-vir 1.
The cook only had a small light and was unsure if their night lights were on. He saw the trawler but was unsure if it would hit them until it was too late. So the Filipino boat did not have a lookout, DFA Secretary Locsin claimed even the enemies of the president say that. The trawler, upon hitting them, reversed and sailed away. No other details were disclosed by Locsin as he did not have authority to speak on the matter, but he did say the Filipinos were partly to blame. I knew it.
Who should have an obligatory lookout, a stationary vessel or a moving one? Should parked vehicles have a lookout or should drivers of moving vehicles be more careful? Shouldn’t the Chinese ship be more careful because they were moving in the middle of the night, not to mention inside our EEZ?
Their running lights should have been turned on since they were on the move. Why didn’t the cook see them until they were already close? If 42212 saw Gem-vir 1, they would have veered away. Unless of course, they had other intentions. Why was 42212 also sailing at considerable speed as to inflict the damage done to Gem-vir 1, at midnight at that? If they were sailing at a slower speed, then Gem-vir 1 would have sustained minimal damage. Gem-vir 1 did sink.
The Palace has stated that this particular issue should come to a close since relations with China have been affected. The opposition and critics of the president are only milking the issue and blowing it out of proportion. Administration officials would prefer to downplay the incident, especially DFA Secretary Locsin, who believes he is “the only one in this goddamned country” who understands what happened at Recto Bank. And the issue of the Chinese leaving our fishermen after the “incident”?
Will that issue come out of the report? What they did was unacceptable. A felony as Locsin emphatically stated at the UN. Will they be held accountable by the government? Will China hold them accountable? Will China even admit they made a mistake? All they have to say is they own the oceans so they can do anything they want. If their findings do not reflect our own, what now? Again I pity the 22 fishermen of Gem-vir 1 whose ordeal cannot seem to end, as they now are partly to blame.