Philippines sentences 12 Chinese fishermen to jail

[BoQ77]

Philippines sentences 12 Chinese fishermen to jail
PUERTO PRINCESA Philippines Tue Aug 5, 2014 7:05am BST


(Reuters) - A Philippine court on Tuesday found 12 Chinese fishermen guilty of illegal fishing in Philippine waters, sending them to jail for six to 12 years, the first convictions since tension between the neighbours flared over rival claims in the South China Sea.

Philippine rangers caught the fishermen after their boat ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in April 2013. The reef is not claimed by China but the jailing of the 12 is likely to put more strain on already tense ties.

A Public Attorney's Office (PAO) defending the men said he would appeal.

"We believe the Chinese fishermen are innocent, they did not intend to go into Philippine territory but was forced by bad weather," the lawyer told reporters.

The fishermen sat quietly listening to the verdict which court staff read in English and translated to Chinese.

The captain was sentenced to prison for 12 years while his men were sentenced to from six to 10 years. Judge Ambrosio de Luna also ordered them to pay a fine of $100,000 (£59,287).

The fishermen were also carrying a cargo of pangolins, which is an endangered mammal, like an anteater, eaten in China.

They had said they were on their way from Indonesia to China when bad weather forced them to take shelter at the reef, and they were not aware they were in Philippine territory.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, an area believed rich in oil and gas deposits and fishery resources. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also claims the sea where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year.

Last year, the Philippines filed an arbitration case against China in The Hague over their rival claims in the sea

 

[Viet]

WOW jail for six to 12 years. that is a very harsh sentence.
I think Chinese will not be amused.

 

[Cossack25A1]

The Tubbataha Reef is well inside Philippine territory. If they came from Indonesia, as they claim, they would have at least took a different path.

See the map.

As for the sentence, if the fishermen pays the bail, they will be free. That is how (sadly) justice system works here in the Philippines - pay the bail, you go free.

 

[Kolaps]

There are thousands of Malaysian and Vietnamese fishermen jailed in Philippine.

 

[IsaacNewton]

12 years is rather ridiculous. I think Philippine should lessen the sentence otherwise China will have a massive protest and it will hurt Filipino interests in China.

What if China decides to retaliate and arrest every person of Filipino ancestry in China, or fire at every Filipino ship that decides to enter South China Sea?

 

[Pakistanisage]

This will start a tit for tat action which won't be good for the region.

 

[Cossack25A1]

12 years is rather ridiculous. I think Philippine should lessen the sentence otherwise China will have a massive protest and it will hurt Filipino interests in China.

What if China decides to retaliate and arrest every person of Filipino ancestry in China, or fire at every Filipino ship that decides to enter South China Sea?

Like I posted earlier, if they (or someone) will pay for their bail, they would be free. This bail-payment system always happen.

But you are right about one thing, China would retaliate in some ways or at least do the same thing.

 

[Raphael]

If these fisherman admit they were in Tubbataha Reef, then they indeed crossed into PH territory and will now be subject to their jurisdiction. But 12 years for trespass is indeed pretty harsh, I've never heard of a judicial system that does that. In the UK, many convicted of manslaughter wouldn't even get that. Can we trust the PH judicial system to pronounce a fair and impartial sentence, instead of ramping up the sentence to serve a political objective for the government?

 

[BoQ77]

If these fisherman admit they were in Tubbataha Reef, then they indeed crossed into PH territory and will now be subject to their jurisdiction. But 12 years for trespass is indeed pretty harsh, I've never heard of a judicial system that does that. In the UK, many convicted of manslaughter wouldn't even get that. Can we trust the PH judicial system to pronounce a fair and impartial sentence, instead of ramping up the sentence to serve a political objective for the government?

respect the local authority.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Do you know how many Filipinos we have in Hong Kong? Hundreds of thousands. Even my own maid is a Filipino.

These Filipino maids are mothers working to send money back to their children and families so they do not starve.

If we were barbarians we could retaliate by arresting them, but we are not.

 

[Zero_wing]

Do you know how many Filipinos we have in Hong Kong? Hundreds of thousands. Even my own maid is a Filipino.

These Filipino maids are mothers working to send money back to their children and families so they do not starve.

If we were barbarians we could retaliate by arresting them, but we are not.

Wow so making this stupid post makes you civilized wow you have us convince of your civilized wats then go ahead to that is not like hong kong will have no (will have) problems if they all go and let me ask you? why arrest people with no connection to the problem of chinese arrogance and stupidity? Aka chinese Imperialism Aka the West Philippines Sea problem? that in self is stupid as hell? why typical example of not using ones brain before making a post sure it will dent us but in the long run its just 5% of the whole OFW work force which everywhere in the world so why? would it hurt us? so go ahead make it so if you can the hong kongers as arrogant as you are not that stupid to follow your arrogantly stupid post so good luck with that.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Wow so making this stupid post makes you civilized wow you have us convince of your civilized wats then go ahead to that is not like hong kong will have no (will have) problems if they all go and let me ask you? why arrest people with no connection to the problem of chinese arrogance and stupidity? Aka chinese Imperialism Aka the West Philippines Sea problem? that in self is stupid as hell? why typical example of not using ones brain before making a post sure it will dent us but in the long run its just 5% of the whole OFW work force which everywhere in the world so why? would it hurt us? so go ahead make it so if you can the hong kongers as arrogant as you are not that stupid to follow your arrogantly stupid post so good luck with that.

See the difference is we are not barbarians.

We aren't going to deprive families of their fathers/mothers and source of money and bread due to some political games, like the Philippines is doing.

 

[terranMarine]

Do you know how many Filipinos we have in Hong Kong? Hundreds of thousands. Even my own maid is a Filipino.

These Filipino maids are mothers working to send money back to their children and families so they do not starve.

If we were barbarians we could retaliate by arresting them, but we are not.

There's no point discussing with Pinoys, to them Chinese treat them as slaves.

 

[Viet]

There are thousands of Malaysian and Vietnamese fishermen jailed in Philippine.

don´t talk bullshit pls

Like I posted earlier, if they (or someone) will pay for their bail, they would be free. This bail-payment system always happen.

But you are right about one thing, China would retaliate in some ways or at least do the same thing.

so money can buy freedoms in PH?

 

[ComradeNam]

Let see what China do to retaliate? Probably nothing. Since the U.S. presence in Philippines the China suddenly stopped harass Philippines and yield. This show that, China fears the U.S. like Le Duan said during the Vietnam war, they really scare the U.S.

Contradict, the Cyber warriors on here boasting how they super power and scare nobody. In fact, they fear and now playing nice when the U.S. adopt tough policy toward China.