Philippine civilian convoy sails towards disputed reef

MANILA – Civilians on board Philippine fishing boats sailed on May 15 towards a China-controlled reef off the South-east Asian country, handing out aid to Filipino fishermen and dropping buoys to assert their rights to the disputed waterway.

The trip to the waters around Scarborough Shoal comes two weeks after

China Coast Guard vessels fired water cannon

at two Philippine government boats in the same area, in the latest maritime incident between the countries.

Waving tiny Philippine flags and chanting “the Philippines is ours, China out”, about 200 people boarded five commercial fishing vessels that sailed out of a northern port in the morning, escorted by a number of tiny outriggers.

A few hours later, a lone Philippine Coast Guard boat met the convoy in open seas and stood guard as it handed out food and fuel to Filipino fishermen and dropped a dozen orange buoys marked “WPS is ours”.

WPS is the acronym for the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s name for the South China Sea waters immediately west of the Philippines.

“The Chinese drove us away. That always happens whenever we try to go to Scarborough Shoal. They always drive us away,” fisherman Jay-ar Hilig told AFP as he waited for his turn to receive diesel fuel and a plastic grocery bag.

Mr Luis Pontillas, a fellow fisherman, said: “This is for the Chinese to see that we Filipinos are united in wanting to take back Scarborough Shoal.”

No Chinese navy or coast guard vessels were in the area as the aid distribution took place, an AFP team aboard the Filipino coast guard vessel said.

The group had said it received reports of a “heavy presence” of Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal, which is called Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.

Later, the group issued a statement saying it would “proceed to the second phase of its voyage, aiming to reach the vicinity of Panatag Shoal for another round of supply distribution to Filipino fisherfolk in the area”.

A spokesman for the convoy told reporters via a messaging app that it was “still far from the shoal”, while the Philippine Coast Guard said in Manila that it was deploying more vessels for escort duty.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin asserted on May 15 that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over Scarborough Shoal.

“If the Philippines abuses China’s goodwill and infringes on China’s territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction, China will lawfully safeguard its rights and take countermeasures,” he told reporters.

“Relevant responsibility and consequences will be borne entirely by the Philippines.”

The Scarborough Shoal has been a potential flashpoint since Beijing seized it from Manila in 2012.

The fish-rich reef is about 240km west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900km from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese land mass.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims by the Philippines and other countries, and ignoring

an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis

.

To press its claims, Beijing deploys coast guard and other boats to patrol the waterway and has

turned several reefs into artificial islands

that it has militarised.

Organiser Edicio Dela Torre said in a statement on May 15: “This civilian supply mission is not just about delivering supplies, it’s about reaffirming our presence and rights in our own waters.

“The world is watching, and the narrative of rightful ownership and peaceful assertion is clearly on our side.”

Tensions over the disputed waters and reefs have intensified in the past 18 months as Manila pushes back against China’s growing assertiveness.

This is the second civilian convoy organised by the Atin Ito group, whose name is Tagalog for “this is ours”.

A previous trip to the South China Sea in December was aborted due to shadowing by Chinese vessels. AFP