CHINA is not bent on leaving the contested Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal after all as aerial surveillance photos indicated one Chinese Maritime Surveillance ship and a research ship are still in the area.
But years of hostility between the Chinese Coast Guards and the Filipino fishermen from Masinloc, Zambales province have gone. The once unruly Chinese Coast Guards were allowing Filipino fishermen back in the common fishing ground.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Chinese Coast Guard ships are still guarding Panatag Shoal but they allowed Filipinos to enter the common fishing ground for the first time in years.
The Zambales fishermen have entered the common fishing ground since October 25 “unmolested.” Both Filipinos and Chinese could fish at the common fishing ground.
A Chinese research ship and a Chinese Navy frigate were seen in the shoal from Oct. 17 to 27. In the past, at least five People’s Liberation Army Navy and four Chinese Coast Guard ships are guarding the tiny “Bajo de Masinloc” or Panatag Shoal.
“There are no written agreements or rules but Filipino fishermen who went there lately attest that they were not driven away nor were accosted. And for the record, from October 17 to 27, there had been only two Chinese ships in Bajo de Masinloc,” Esperon said.
Meanwhile, jubilant Filipino fishermen were hauling a good catch from their daily sorties in the Panatag Shoal.