President Rodrigo Duterte breaks his silence about the sinking of a Philippine fishing boat by a Chinese vessel at Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea, describing the event as a ‘little maritime incident.’
The President is appealing not to make the situation worse, adding that the maritime incident is being hyped up by some politicians.
“Yang nangyari diyan sa banggaan (What happened in that collision), that is a maritime incident. ‘Wag kayong maniwala diyan sa mga politiko na bobo, gusto papuntahin yung Navy (Don’t believe stupid politicians who want the navy to go there),” Duterte said in his speech at the 121st Philippine Navy anniversary.
He said the Philippines is not ready to go to war with China, adding that sending military ships will escalate the ‘tension’ between two countries.
“You do not send gray ships there. Banggaan lang ng bangka ‘yan (That’s only a collision between two boats). Do not make it worse,” he added.
Wait for the results of the investigation
The President insists he will not issue any statements until the results of the investigation by the Philippine and Chinese authorities are concluded.
“It’s a maritime incident. It is best investigated and I will not issue a statement now because there is no investigation and there is no result. Then the only thing that we can do is to wait and give the other party the right to be heard,” he said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila has denied allegations that a Chinese fishing vessel abandoned 22 Filipino fishermen after it sank their boat in the South China Sea.
"There was no such thing as (a) 'hit-and-run'. We would handle the issue in a serious and responsible manner,” it said in a statement late on Friday.
Junel Insigne, captain of the Philippine fishing boat, claimed the Chinese vessel stopped for a while and flashed its lights. He said there were no rescue attempts and the Chinese vessel just left the scene.
The captain said a Vietnamese fishing boat arrived two hours later and rescued them.
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