FOREIGN AFFAIRS Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday said the collision between a Philippine fishing vessel and Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship has nothing to do with Manila's maritime row with Beijing.
"It has nothing to do with the South China Sea. Whether or not China was there a fishing boat could have been hit by a commercial vessel, especially one that large," Locsin said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual forum.
Locsin said an investigation is ongoing and the Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice, would press claims if negligence is to be established on the part of the Hong Kong-flagged ship.
"It shouldn't be politicized because, obviously, this is a commercial vessel and whether there was negligence on their part is what we are gonna determine. And as the Department of Foreign Affairs, together with the Department of Justice, we're gonna press claims for that," he added.
Undersecretary Brigido Dulay Jr. added that the incident happened in Mindoro and that it is "no different from any other incident involving vessels within Philippine territory".
He noted that the work rests on the Department of Transportation to probe whether protocols have been breached when the incident occurred.
"We have to emphasize that kasi pino-politicize, ginagawang West Philippine Sea, Mindoro po ito. Walang pinagkaiba ito sa dalawang barko na ang may-ari ay Pilipino na nagbanggaan (We have to emphasize that because this is being politicized, they are making this about the West Philippine Sea, this is Mindoro. It's no different from two Filipino-owned ships that collided with each other)," he said.
As of this writing, there is an ongoing search and rescue (SAR) operation for the 14 mariners who went missing after the ships collided on June 28.
MV Vienna Wood departed from Subic, Zambales going to Australia while fishing vessel Liberty 5 departed from Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi going to Navotas Fish Port in Metro Manila when the maritime incident occurred.
On Tuesday, China said it is ready to assist the Philippine government regarding the incident.( By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora)
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