Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Manila: Investigators of the Philippine government were allowed to go to Taiwan on Thursday, where they will inspect a fishing vessel that was shot at by the Philippine Coast Guard which resulted in the death of a Taiwanese fisherman in the South China Sea off northern Luzon on May 9, senior officials and sources said.

The Taiwanese government, through the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, is now processing the travel documents of the representatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) so that they could fly to Taiwan on Thursday or Friday, said Amadeo Perez, head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), which serves as a liaison office of the Philippine government in Taiwan.

Perez did not say if Taiwan has allowed the NBI to inspect the Guang Ta Hsin 28, the Taiwanese fishing vessel that was shot at by the Philippine Coast Guard, which resulted in the killing of Hung Shih Chen, 65, a fishermen, at the Balintang Channel in the South China Sea, off the northernmost part of Luzon on May 9.

The Philippine government has also requested for an interview with the Taiwanese vessel’s crewmen.

The Philippine government has also called on the Taiwanese government and the family of the slain fisherman, for a re-autopsy of his body.

At the same time, the Philippine government has already allowed the arrival of Taiwanese investigators who wanted to inspect the vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard that was involved in the May 9 sea incident, a source told Gulf News.

The Taiwanese investigators want to see signs that the vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard was shot at by the Taiwanese fishermen, the same source said, adding the arrival of the Taiwanese inspectors for the said probe was not released to the media.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government has finalised a partial report of the incident, based on a video clip of the Philippine Coast Guard which documented the shooting incident with the Taiwanese vessel, said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

“There will be premature conclusions if we release the video (now). It’s just part of the whole report,” De Lima said, adding this was the reason why the Philippine government wanted to send investigators to Taiwan to complete NBI’s investigation.

“The result of the Philippine government’s investigation would be more exhaustive, thorough and complete if the requests of the NBI team are granted by the Taiwanese government,” said de Lima.

It was an apparent response to Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency which released on Tuesday a satellite record of the route of the Taiwanese vessel, that it was not on Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, when shot at by the Philippine Coast Guard on May 9.

Earlier, the Philippine Coast Guard alleged that the Taiwanese fishing vessel rammed the Philippine Coast Guard’s vessel, which resulted in the attack from the Philippine side. The Philippine Coast guard also claimed the incident occurred on Philippine waters in the South China Sea.

Because of the start of a “parallel and cooperative type of (and not joint)” inspections by investigators from the Philippines and Taiwan, the rising tension between the two countries has finally eased, said Abigal Valte, deputy spokesperson of President Benigno Aquino.

This issue has to be concluded, said President Aquino on Tuesday.

The Philippine government has diplomatic relations with China, and it observes one-China policy that prevents it from having a “joint probe” of the incident with Taiwan.

The killing of the Taiwanese fisherman prompted Taiwan to impose sanctions. It has stopped processing the papers of overseas Filipino workers who are seeking employment in Taiwan.

By Barbara Mae Dacanay Bureau Chief

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