MANILA, Philippines – After 22 Filipino fishermen aboard fishing boat Gem-Ver were sunk by a Chinese vessel in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), they face another collision at home: with their own government.
While the fishermen insisted that they were rammed by a Chinese vessel, President Rodrigo Duterte on June 17 dismissed their ordeal as a “maritime incident.”
At the same time, Duterte’s men either refused to adopt the fishermen’s statements or contradicted them outright.
The President himself echoed China’s foreign ministry, which said on June 13 that the sinking of Gem-Ver was an “ordinary maritime traffic accident.” He refused to condemn China – a far cry from his outrage against the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Kuwait over perceived affronts to Filipinos.
Duterte also agreed to China’s offer of a joint Manila-Beijing investigation into the issue – which, according to critics, places the Philippines and China in one team against the fishermen.
“Hindi namin alam kung kinakampihan pa kami (We don’t know if they’re still siding with us),” said Fe dela Torre, one of the owners of Gem-Ver, on June 18.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, seems to be “lawyering for China.”
“He is acting like the defense ministry of China, or is lawyering for the Chinese crew, because he is finding loopholes in our fishermen’s words,” said Lacson in a mix of English and Filipino. “His mindset is like a defense counsel entering his appearance for China, as if he was in a courtroom.”
Is the Philippine government indeed lawyering for China?