The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest against China after a Chinese ship that docked in the Philippines was hit by a ship that left 22 Filipino fishermen when the ship sank in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday night.
"I fired a diplomatic protest yesterday (Wednesday)," Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted Thursday in response to a tweet from Senator Antonio Trillanes IV suggesting that the Philippines refer the incident to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which Account with both the Philippines and China as members
Locsin said he agreed that the matter was a case for IMO, but stressed that he wanted to continue with his merits and with what he asked for.
The secretary, who is on an official trip to Geneva, also made comments apparently addressed to the people who had said that it should be determined if the action of the Chinese vessel should be interpreted as the act of the Chinese state.
"My people in Manila think we should tread a little more carefully maybe something between the private parties, although it is clear that the fault is twice, but in the context of swarms for several years, we can take it a little further", said Locsin.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who reported on the incident on Wednesday, recommended the presentation of a strongly drafted diplomatic protest.
Lorenzana condemned the sinking of the Philippine fishing boat Gim-Ver 1 on Sunday night after being hit by a Chinese ship while it was anchored in the Banco Recto, a rich fishing ground known internationally as Reed Bank, in western Palawan.
He denounced the "cowardly act" of the Chinese ship's crew that abandoned the 22 Filipino fishermen after their ship sank.
Lorenzana thanked the Vietnamese fishermen who rescued the Filipinos and took them to a safe place.
Malacañang said Thursday that President Duterte was "outraged" by the incident and that he would probably make a decisive decision.
The president's spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said the Philippines could break diplomatic relations with China if it proved that the sinking of the Philippine fishing boat was intentional.
"We want to discover first, if it was intentional, that's a different story, if it's intentional, it's an act of aggression," Panelo said.
Later on Thursday, Panelo said that Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua had sent him a text message assuring him that China was "seriously investigating" the incident.
"The issue of the fishing boat is being investigated thoroughly and seriously. We share their concerns about the fishermen, "Zhao said in his message, which was published by the Palace.
"If it were true that it was [a] Chinese fishing vessel that did it, they would be properly educated and punished for their irresponsible behavior," Zhao said.
Vice Adm. Robert Empedrad, chief of the Philippine Navy, said on Wednesday that the Chinese ship was responsible for the abandonment of the Filipino fishermen after it sank its boat.
"Whoever is at fault has to help the people who are in the sinking ship and who are in danger of drowning. "It is everyone's responsibility, regardless of race or country," Empedrad told reporters.
Recto Bank is located in the West Sea of the Philippines, waters within the exclusive economic zone of the 370 kilometers of the Philippines in the sea of South China, highly disputed. China, however, claims almost all of the South China Sea, including waters off the coasts of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration endorsed by the UN in The Hague invalidated China's broad claim in a 2016 resolution on a challenge presented by the Philippines, but Beijing ignored the decision and proceeded to build military bases on seven Philippine reefs in the Sea of South China
Beijing has deployed coastguards and hundreds of fishing boats, its so-called maritime militias, to the reefs to intimidate rivals through the territory.
It was not clear on Thursday whether the ship that hit the Gem-Vir 1 was part of the Chinese maritime militia.
The former foreign secretary, Albert del Rosario, who addressed the Philippine challenge to China's claim over the entire South China Sea, said Manila should take a firm stand after the latest incident in the maritime dispute.
"What is obvious is that Goliath, the neighborhood bully, will continue to raise [his] ugly head to intimidate our poor fishermen. "We need to find a way to hold China's leadership accountable," Del Rosario said in a statement on Thursday.
Senator Risa Hontiveros urged President Duterte to remind Filipino diplomats in China, as he did in line with garbage with Canada, to show how serious Manila was in defending the lives of Filipino fishermen.
But Panelo left aside the comments of Hontiveros and Del Rosario and said the administration "knows what to do."
Other legislators deplored the behavior of the Chinese ship's crew.
The minority leader in the Senate, Franklin Drilon, called on the government to "call China for not fulfilling its obligations to rescue any person in danger at sea or in danger of being lost at sea in accordance with international law." .
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III denounced the abandonment by the Chinese crew of the Filipino fishermen.
"No matter who was at fault, the crew of a sinking ship should never be abandoned by a capable ship," Pimentel said.
Neri Colmenares, president of the Bayan Muna party list group, cited article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which requires that the ship be able to "assist the other ship, its crew and its passengers "after a collision.
Colmenares also challenged the president to condemn the Banco Recto incident and suggested that the Philippines begin to build an alliance with other claimants in the South China Sea to oppose the militarization of China in the region.
Senator Grace Poe urged China to press charges against fishermen who left the crew of the sinking ship in the Philippines.
"To prove that our friendship is true, maybe your country should press charges against those who committed that. They must impose the appropriate punishment. They let our fishermen die, and Vietnam had to rescue them, "said Poe.
Senator Richard Gordon asked the Coast Guard to deploy ships in the Banco Recto to protect the Filipino fishermen there.