Filipino mayor-elect of Davao City calls for arrest of Filipino coast guard

[Martian2]

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte apologizes to Taiwan | Sun.Star

"Duterte apologizes to Taiwan
By Antonio L. Colina IV
Friday, May 24, 2013

DAVAO City mayor-elect Rodrigo Duterte apologized to Taiwanese government on Monday over the killing of a fisherman in a shooting incident last May 9, a Taiwan-based national daily reported.

In an online report published by The China Post dated May 21, 2013, it said that Duterte called Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin to ask for apology for the slain fisherman, Hung Shih-Cheng, 65, who was killed during an anti-illegal fishing patrol by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) off Philippine waters.

"According to high-level Taipei City Government sources, Duterte called Hau through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, and apologized on behalf of Davao City to Taiwan," the report said.

The report also cited Duterte as saying that those responsible for the killing of the fisherman must be arrested.

The official also vowed to ensure the safety of the Taiwanese tourists who are staying in Davao City; and lauded Hau's call to his people to remain rational and spare the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) there.

"The incident was triggered by a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel, so Taiwan should handle the matter with the Philippine government - no with their people," the report cited Hau as saying.

It can be recalled Taiwan earlier stopped hiring of Filipinos who will work in its bustling manufacturing plants, urged compatriots not to visit the Philippines and recalled its representative to the country as it demanded public apology and compensation fisherman's family.

The killing of the fisherman also stoked anger from Taiwanese nationals and reports about attacking and maltreating OFWs in their country have escalated the previous days.

Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) earlier advised Filipinos in Taiwan to avoid going out for their safety.

About 80,000 Filipinos are working in the different companies in Taiwan. (With reports from Sunnex)"

 

[ChengDao]

This guy recognizes the consequences of messing with the militant province of Taiwan which is renown worldwide as the most well armed province. It is equipped by your own prostitution ring pimp daddy, the USA. Can the Philippines compare to this tiny military powerhouse? No. South Korea maybe, but Philippines no.

 

[longyi]

Diplomacy



It is nearly two weeks since the diplomatic crisis with Taiwan began. Through that whole period, President Aquino has not publicly addressed the matter.

In any other nation, when a diplomatic crisis breaks out, the Chief Executive quickly addresses his people. This is done to calm fears, set perspective, perhaps even lay down a policy response to the matter.

Addressing the people is not just an option for a head of government. It is a grave responsibility.

It is not that the President completely fell out of sight. He briefly emerged shortly after the elections to sign into law the K to 12 bill, a contentious law left in the shelf until after the voting.

We know he is somewhere in the Palace, but, like an ostrich, chose to bury his head in the sand regarding the Taiwan question. I recall a Palace functionary mumbling something about the restraints of our One-China policy preventing Aquino from publicly addressing the matter.

I fail, however, to find any sense in that excuse. The president of Taiwan, like the chief executive of the Hong Kong special autonomous region, is our partner in various international forums. No protocol is breached if we talk about the death of a fisherman after the cockpit of his ship was raked with machinegun fire.

The fact is, buried under many layers of diplomatic hypocrisy, we do have bilateral relations with Taiwan. The island powerhouse is one of our most important economic partners. We have over 80,000 Filipinos working there — whose safety and employment security are now in jeopardy.

The families of Filipino workers in Taiwan are worried sick over the safety of their loved ones. Our tourism sector is now counting the probable losses from Taiwan’s blacklisting of the Philippines. Businessmen are fidgety over the punitive measures imposed by Taipei. No one knows where the bottom of this quagmire is.

Presidential silence aggravates the anxieties.

The MECO chair, a small town politician named to a sensitive post, was tasked with conveying our hedged apologies to the Taiwanese people. His apology rejected, he was sent home. There is a thing to be said about the gravitas and the skills of people appointed to key diplomatic postings in this administration.

As was the problem in previous diplomatic crises, presidential silence is aggravated by the vacuous loquaciousness of those tasked to speak on his behalf.

Edwin Lacierda and Abigail Valte appear to have not yet realized that whatever they say in their daily press conferences will be taken as official policy positions. Day in and day out, in their version of the Punch and Judy Show, the two spokespersons somehow manage to utter the most incredible things.

Lacierda and Valte are fixed on a tit-for-tat mode. Addressing burning foreign policy controversies in that mode can only produce disasters.

Recall when China returned our banana exports last year. That produced great anxiety in communities dependent on our banana exports. I cannot recall now if it was Punch or Judy who declared that we will sell bananas to the Singaporeans as alternative to the mainland Chinese market. There is an arithmetic anomaly here. Even if we force-feed Singaporeans with our bananas all the days of the year, they cannot possibly consume the volume we sell to China.

Last week, when Taipei announced, as part of a package of punitive measures, no new migrant workers contracts will be accepted, the daring duo haughtily announced we will find alternative employment elsewhere for our workers. Well, we have been trying to do that for years and still could not find enough jobs for all Filipinos who wish to work abroad.

That cocky public posture is contradicted by the fact that we are working all the available backchannels to secure the highly skilled jobs Filipinos already hold in Taiwan. Instead of threatening Taiwan with a pullout of our workers, the diplomatic response was to call for restraint and then try to soothe ruffled feathers.

Instead of repeating the intrigue that Taipei’s reaction is politically motivated, we should focus on the official matter at hand. Good grief, the anger in the streets of Taiwan is real.

We now know that one of the major reasons our apology was rejected as insincere is that Valte, after announcing the apology on television punctuated it with her habitual smirk. That rubbed salt on the wound. It is the equivalent of President Aquino caught on camera smiling while inspecting the bus where Hong Kong tourists were just killed.

Valte smirk Ouch that hurts!

The question most asked these days: Who is in charge of managing the present crisis with Taiwan? Heaven forbid, could it be the silly duo speaking for the Palace?

Yes, who is in charge of managing this crisis, of evolving a coherent strategy to restore us to the robust, mutually beneficial relationship we had with Taiwan before this thing exploded in our face?

If there is no effective management and no coherent strategy in place, then Lacierda and Valte will just have to wing it. That is exactly what they have been doing since the crisis broke out.

Although this might not be evident, we should presume Lacierda and Valte know they do not make policy. We should also presume the two are well aware of the substantive differences between a public relations problem and a diplomatic problem. The tools for addressing either are very different.

It will be easier for us to presume regularity if someone tells us who the crisis manager for this is.

Diplomacy | Opinion, News, The Philippine Star | philstar.com

 

[Fsjal]

The Coast Guard should be dissolved and replaced by a Maritime Security Bureau (MSB)

 

[soaringeagle]

The Coast Guard should be dissolved and replaced by a Maritime Security Bureau (MSB)

Actually the first charge will be for placing their own crew in danger.
You don't shoot at a boat to stop it, the only time that might work is when that boat is power by a small outboard motor and you can place your shot like a surgeon.
A boat is not like a car, unlike a gas pedal a boat's throttle will not return to idle position when let go. Even a junior marine personnel shall know that.
Even if the boat is trying to ram you, the correct reaction will be to take evasive maneuver at once while order "brace for impact".
Shooting at a inboard power vessel with unknown amount of fuel on board at a close range and risk the fact that it will blow up right along side hence kill everyone on board including your own crew and your own boat is at the very least a stupid miss judgement and disregard of life including your own.
If you are shooting at it at a safe distant or from behind, then sorry, that is murder.
Unless you are returning fire in a war zone.

 

[shuttler]

There are still plenty of conscience in the Philippines. Good Lordie!

It doesnt need a sherlock holmes to point out the cool blooded criminals and their local and foreign protectors - what a shame to the Philippines and its innocent People！

 

[Zero_wing]

There are still plenty of conscience in the Philippines. Good Lordie!

It doesnt need a sherlock holmes to point out the cool blooded criminals and their local and foreign protectors - what a shame to the Philippines and its innocent People！

Ya sure and china has been the model of humanity oh right i forgot

2nd century millions dead

Warring states millions dead

Chinese Civil War millions dead

Great leap forward millions dead

Cultural revolution millions dead

that massacre that everybody knows yup millions dead still


Yes a real model of the human goodness

 

[soaringeagle]

Sorry gentlemen, arguing like this will go no where and will not help the countryman of either side.
By IMO, both government have handled this incident badly.

 

[Zero_wing]

Well i agree if the Pinoy ordered the investigation sooner that's the only thing he did wrong. Ignoring those fools in TaEwan under MAtopac regime demands was the right thing to do

 

[sonicbomb]

The daughter of the Taiwanese fisherman who died in an incident that has become a raging issue between Taiwan and the Philippines has pleaded with fellow Taiwanese not to attack Filipinos.

Tzu-Chien Hong, first-born of Hung Shih-Cheng, also asked Taiwanese to not harass Filipino workers.

“She says don’t attack Filipinos in Taiwan. She will tell the government and she will tell the media,” Tzu-Chien Hong said through an interpreter in a TV report aired on GMA’s “24 Oras” Friday.

Although her father’s death was an unfortunate event, she said it is not a reason to inflict rage on innocent Filipino workers in Taiwan, the report said.

Some OFWs based in Taiwan have been beaten up and threatened by gangs and prohibited access to enter market places as they bore the brunt of public outrage over the fisherman’s death. Many have resorted to covering their faces with anti-pollution masks and denying they were Filipinos to avoid harassment.

Hong also asked the Philippine government to issue an apology at an international press conference and demanded that it show her family any video footage of the encounter between the Philippine patrol boat and the four Taiwanese fishing vessels last May 9 near Batanes.

“We’ve been asking the Filipino government to show us the real proof such as the videos of the conflict between the Filipino coast guards and the Taiwanese fisherman’s boat, but so far we haven’t heard, seen any evidence. I don’t think their reaction so far is sincere or justifiable,” she said.

Hong likewise rejected the Philippine government’s request for a re-autopsy of the victim’s body.

For its part, the Philippines has assured Taiwanese investigators of access to the incident video.

In an interview with John Consulta, Yi-Chih Hong, captain of the Taiwanese fishing boat and son of the slain fisherman, detailed the events leading to his father’s death.

When the Philippine authorities started firing at us, we hid inside the boat. We were shocked to find out that my father died because of a gunshot, the television report said.

“Takot na takot kami, kaya ‘di na kami lumabas. Doon na lang kami nagtago [sa lob ng bangka],” he said through a Filipino interpreter.

“Dahil meron nga po kaming GPS at mga recording, siguradong-sigurado kami na nasa Taiwan territory talaga kami,” he added.

However, Asis Perez, the head of the Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) whose armed patrol boat was involved in the incident, insisted that the encounter was inside the Philippines' "exclusive economic zone."

“Meron tayong mapa, may coordinates po tayong sinusunod," said Perez in an interview on GMA News TV's “News To Go. "At doon naman sa lokasyon kung saan nangyari iyon, clearly nasa loob po siya ng Philippine waters."

Perez said Philippine Coast Guard personnel on board the BFAR ship sought to board and inspect the fleet of four Taiwanese fishing boats, but they fled. That led to a chase in the high seas, resulting in the tragedy that has yet to be fully explained. – Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/ELR/HS, GMA News


So it's Philippines exclusive economic zone instead of Philippines territory water now, why i'm not surprise?

 

[Zero_wing]

The daughter of the Taiwanese fisherman who died in an incident that has become a raging issue between Taiwan and the Philippines has pleaded with fellow Taiwanese not to attack Filipinos.

Tzu-Chien Hong, first-born of Hung Shih-Cheng, also asked Taiwanese to not harass Filipino workers.

“She says don’t attack Filipinos in Taiwan. She will tell the government and she will tell the media,” Tzu-Chien Hong said through an interpreter in a TV report aired on GMA’s “24 Oras” Friday.

Although her father’s death was an unfortunate event, she said it is not a reason to inflict rage on innocent Filipino workers in Taiwan, the report said.

Some OFWs based in Taiwan have been beaten up and threatened by gangs and prohibited access to enter market places as they bore the brunt of public outrage over the fisherman’s death. Many have resorted to covering their faces with anti-pollution masks and denying they were Filipinos to avoid harassment.

Hong also asked the Philippine government to issue an apology at an international press conference and demanded that it show her family any video footage of the encounter between the Philippine patrol boat and the four Taiwanese fishing vessels last May 9 near Batanes.

“We’ve been asking the Filipino government to show us the real proof such as the videos of the conflict between the Filipino coast guards and the Taiwanese fisherman’s boat, but so far we haven’t heard, seen any evidence. I don’t think their reaction so far is sincere or justifiable,” she said.

Hong likewise rejected the Philippine government’s request for a re-autopsy of the victim’s body.

For its part, the Philippines has assured Taiwanese investigators of access to the incident video.

In an interview with John Consulta, Yi-Chih Hong, captain of the Taiwanese fishing boat and son of the slain fisherman, detailed the events leading to his father’s death.

When the Philippine authorities started firing at us, we hid inside the boat. We were shocked to find out that my father died because of a gunshot, the television report said.

“Takot na takot kami, kaya ‘di na kami lumabas. Doon na lang kami nagtago [sa lob ng bangka],” he said through a Filipino interpreter.

“Dahil meron nga po kaming GPS at mga recording, siguradong-sigurado kami na nasa Taiwan territory talaga kami,” he added.

However, Asis Perez, the head of the Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) whose armed patrol boat was involved in the incident, insisted that the encounter was inside the Philippines' "exclusive economic zone."

“Meron tayong mapa, may coordinates po tayong sinusunod," said Perez in an interview on GMA News TV's “News To Go. "At doon naman sa lokasyon kung saan nangyari iyon, clearly nasa loob po siya ng Philippine waters."

Perez said Philippine Coast Guard personnel on board the BFAR ship sought to board and inspect the fleet of four Taiwanese fishing boats, but they fled. That led to a chase in the high seas, resulting in the tragedy that has yet to be fully explained. – Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/ELR/HS, GMA News


So it's Philippines exclusive economic zone instead of Philippines territory water now, why i'm not surprise?

Go back to your problems in Malaysia!

 

[S10]

Ya sure and china has been the model of humanity oh right i forgot

2nd century millions dead

Warring states millions dead

Chinese Civil War millions dead

Great leap forward millions dead

Cultural revolution millions dead

that massacre that everybody knows yup millions dead still


Yes a real model of the human goodness

Yet here we are, stronger than ever. And there you are, crying to your American daddy after being kicked off island after island.

Sounds like we're doing it right.

 

[sonicbomb]

Go back to your problems in Malaysia!

lol buthurt? , we knew something wrong with our government , and we rallied all over the street to protest it,definitely not like you, hiding in US while backing up of your incompetent corrupted government again and again.

 

[soaringeagle]

Well gentleman, every country has its problems, China and USA included. The mentality of the civilians and their appropriate action to influence their government will one day find a solution. I wish MY the very best.
Mr. Sonicbombs say that there was a high sea chase, That puzzles me..

 

[sonicbomb]

Well gentleman, every country has its problems, China and USA included. The mentality of the civilians and their appropriate action to influence their government will one day find a solution. I wish MY the very best.
Mr. Sonicbombs say that there was a high sea chase, That puzzles me..

thanks for your wishes , people in Malaysia now do realize that corrupted politician shouldn't be tolerate and i'm sure we would find our way to battle those politician.
btw, it's not what i said, it was an article from Philippines media .