There is no harm in talking with Taiwan if it wants a fisheries cooperation or agreement with the Philippines, President Aquino said here Friday.
From the start they were saying that… As I said, let’s finish this issue first before we discuss the fisheries agreement, Aquino told reporters after the attending the World Economic Forum on East Asia.
In the meantime, we are preparing, he said.
Aquino disclosed he had ordered an inventory of all the country’s laws with regard to patrimony and the regulations affecting fisheries.
Plus, of course, it will include the impact on our own fishermen. So once we’re ready with all of that, then we can sit down and discuss with them. There’s no harm in talking, he said.
Aquino said the report of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the incident involving the Philippine Coast Guard and Taiwanese fishermen in Balintang Channel had not yet reached his office.
According to reports, Taiwan is looking to arrange a fishing agreement with the Philippines as a way to restore peaceful relations between neighbors following the furor over the killing of a suspected Taiwanese poacher.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said a fisheries pact with the Philippines could be patterned after the agreement they had with Japan.
The incident in Balintang Channel caused some stress in bilateral ties between the neighbors, with Taiwan demanding an apology from the Philippine government while imposing a travel alert and labor sanctions against Filipino workers.
Suspected Taiwanese vessels, however, continue to intrude into the country’s northern waters where last month’s shooting occurred, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
BFAR said Taiwanese fishing vessels were seen in the waters near Batanes group of islands.
BFAR director for Cagayan Valley Jovita Ayson cited a recent incident of a Taiwanese fishing crew firing flare guns near Batanes’ Itbayat town.
Ayson said some of the Taiwanese and Chinese fishing boats have Indonesians, Vietnamese and Filipinos as crew.
She said that in some cases, foreign fishing vessels tried to ram the patrolling vessels of BFAR.
(This) will not bar us from conducting patrol activities in the area against foreign poachers (We will) strengthen and strictly implement our fishery laws, she said.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), on the other hand, has purchased 258 video cameras to record all their operations.
PCG commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said the shooting of the suspected Taiwanese poacher taught them a lesson and helped them realize that they had to properly document and record all incidents of their operation.
The PCG also decided to review its memorandum of agreement with the BFAR concerning jurisdiction and logistics.
The monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) 3001 vessel involved in the shooting of the suspected Taiwanese poacher was owned by BFAR but jointly run with the PCG.
We have to review thoroughly the MOA with the BFAR because the recording of a video is not a policy, Isorena said.
We are thinking of making it a policy that every time we have an operation, one of our men would have a video camera to record the incident so that the important events would be documented, just in case there are similar incidents such as this, then we would have physical evidence, he said.
2013 ABS-CBN Interactive