MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte made no comment Thursday on the “collision” of a Chinese ship and Filipino fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea. Duterte, in his speech in General Santos City, touched on several issues hounding the country such as communist rebels, the trash shipment from Canada, and investment scams but made no […]

MANILA (2nd UPDATE)—Beijing on Thursday played down the incident involving a Chinese fishing boat that collided with a Philippine vessel and left 22 Filipino fishermen abandoned in the disputed South China Sea. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was an “ordinary maritime accident” and he warned against “irresponsibly politicizing” the collision. He said China […]

Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad on Thursday joined Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in condemning the incident at Reed Bank where a Filipino fishing boat sank after it was reportedly hit by a Chinese vessel on Sunday. Empedrad underscored that it would never be acceptable for any vessel, regardless of its country of origin, […]

  The owner of the Philippine fishing boat and a relative of the boat’s captain believe a Chinese vessel “intentionally” rammed the boat and abandoned its crew when it sank in the South China Sea on Sunday. “How could they (Chinese) not see it when the boat had its lights on?” said Rocky Insigne, a […]

Gem-vir was supposed to be out at sea for 15 days. On the 12th day, June 9, a Chinese vessel rammed into it, then left it and its 22-man crew sinking. MANILA, Philippines – It didn’t seem much at first glance, but many families had depended on fishing boat Gem-vir for their livelihood for years. […]

MANILA (UPDATE) – The collision of a Chinese vessel and Filipino fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea on Sunday was accidental, the Philippine military said Thursday. The Chinese ship “accidentally collided” with the Filipino boat anchored near the Reed Bank in the West Philippine Sea off Palawan around 12 midnight Sunday, the military’s Western […]

MANILA, Philippines – In what seems to be a “hit-and-run” incident at sea, a ship rammed a Philippine fishing vessel anchored near Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) on Sunday, June 9. The Philippine military made the information public on Wednesday, June 12, as the country commemorated Independence Day. The larger […]

MANILA, Philippines (5th UPDATE) – A Chinese vessel sank a Philippine vessel in a collision in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and left the 22 Filipino fishermen on that boat “to the mercy of the elements,” the Philippines’ Department of National Defense (DND) announced on Wednesday, June 12. “A collision between a Chinese […]

MANILA, Philippines — Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Monday that Filipino communicators should take up the cudgels for the Philippines and help correct China’s ‘fake historical claim’ that they own almost the entire South China Sea because the Duterte administration is reluctant to do so. “We can call this present-day information campaign the South […]

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, Philippines — The future is bright for the conservation of giant clams (Tridacna gigas) after a private foundation has successfully fertilized 9.5 million eggs of this marine species that poachers seek in Philippine waters. The Malampaya Foundation Inc. (MFI) on Monday said it had embarked on an ambitious project to propagate […]