Coast Guard admits killing Taiwanese fisherman, claims self-defense

[Monseratto]

Hope this does not escalate into a major incident and Pnoy won't whitewash it like the Quirino Grandstand debacle...dami pa naman OFWs sa Taiwan.

By: Abigail Kwok,

MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATE - 12:03 p.m.) The Philippine Coast Guard on Friday admitted responsibility for the death of a Taiwanese fisherman off the coast of Batanes the day before, but said its personnel acted in self-defense when the foreign fishing vessel attempted to ram one of its ships.

A report by Radio Station DZMM said PCG commandant Admiral Rodolfo Isorena has ordered a thorough investigation of the incident in which Taiwanese fisherman as Hung Shih-Cheng, 65, died.

The report said the Coast Guard ship BFAR MCS 3001 fired at the fishing vessel "Guang Ta Hsin 28" which had a crew of three Taiwanese and an Indonesian some 164 nautical miles off Balintang Channel.

The PCG ship was attempting to accost the Guang Ta Hsin 28 and two other Taiwanese vessels.

However, the Guang Ta Hsin 28 reportedly headed for the PCG vessel to ram it, prompting its crew to open fire.

Earlier, Chinese media reported the incident involved the Philippine Navy.

The Navy denied any involvement and said all vessels of Naval Forces Northern Luzon were in port at Subic or in Sual, Pangasinan.

"The Philippine Navy denies any involvement in, much as we were saddened by, the news about an incident where a Taiwanese fisherman was reportedly shot and the wound led to his death," Navy spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said.

A report run by the Chinese news agency Xinhua, quoted Tsay Tzu-yaw, deputy head of Taiwan's fishery administration, as saying a Philippine military ship opened fire on the fishing boat some 180 nautical miles off Erluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan.

The Xinhua report also said the Filipino ship continued to chase and fire at the fleeing Taiwanese vessel, which sustained heavy damage.

“We strongly protest and condemn that a Philippine government boat attacked our fishing boat and demand the Philippines formally apologize, apprehend the murderer and compensate,” a statement from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Asked about the report, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said: "We cannot confirm it. We will check that."

The Philippine Navy on Friday denied reports in Chinese media that its personnel killed a Taiwanese fisherman Thursday morning.

The Philippines and Taiwan, along with Brunei, China and Malaysia, have conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, although Beijing claims the island. The Philippines has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan but maintains economic and cultural links. (with a report from Jaime Sinapit, InterAksyon.com and Agence France-Presse)

[Altis6453]

Hope this does not escalate into a major incident and Pnoy won't whitewash it like the Quirino Grandstand debacle...dami pa naman OFWs sa Taiwan.

If the PCG's version of the events were true, then it had every right to fire upon the fishing vessel in self defense.

[Monseratto]

Yung mga comments sa FB shows a lot of ignorants who couldn't tell the difference between ROC Taiwan and PROC...

[Monseratto]

Hmm...instead of calling for reinforcement, the PCG apparently hightailed and left the area. Is that proper procedure??? And it took quite sometime for the Philippines goverment to report the incident. The publicity hungry DFA seemed to not know what happened...Something fishy...

Balilo said the 30-meter (100-foot) coast guard vessel initially saw two fishing vessels and tried to approach them. He said the coastguard crew fired at the smaller of the two vessels after it tried to ram the Filipino boat.

“They fired at the machinery to disable it. They were able to disable the vessel although they were not aware at the time that somebody had been hit,” he said.

Balilo said the coast guard quickly left the area after it saw a third vessel, “a big white ship”, come into view.

“Our people felt threatened so they left the area,” he said.

Hung Yu-chih, the captain of the boat who is also the dead man’s son, told the China Times that Philippine gunmen fired several shots at them.
He said one of the shots hit the fuel tank of the vessel, which had only four people on board.

A separate report on Taipei Times said the vessel was operating at around 164 nautical miles (304 km) southeast of Oluanpi in Pingtung County.

It quoted the Coast Guard as saying a 2,000-ton ship equipped with an automatic cannon and two 50mm machine guns had been dispatched, which arrived at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The vessel was to accompany the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 as it waits for a tow back to port Friday.

Read more: Philippines admits to shooting at Taiwan boat | Inquirer Global Nation
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[roninblade]

Hmm...instead of calling for reinforcement, the PCG apparently hightailed and left the area. Is that proper procedure??? And it took quite sometime for the Philippines goverment to report the incident. The publicity hungry DFA seemed to not know what happened...Something fishy...

Read more: Philippines admits to shooting at Taiwan boat | Inquirer Global Nation
Follow us: *inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

fscking noobs is what they are.

[Manilablock]

meron pambili ng bala ang coast guard pero walang pambili ng video camera para i-record ung mga pangyayari.

kasi kung meron silang video na babanggain nga sila ng nung maliit na barko at in self-defence kaya sila nag open fire, valid reason ung ginawa nila.

[wowiesy]

If the PCG's version of the events were true, then it had every right to fire upon the fishing vessel in self defense.

But sa ganitong usapan,,, the best evidence is kung maybtracking ba bawat ship like sa airplanes para ma track per second yung location ng mga ships to have an objective view ano ba talaga nanagyari... If we base on testimony alone... Mahirap...

[beni23]

Kung hinabol pa niya at pinutukan, then he cannot claim self defense.

[Monseratto]

What got me wondering is why the PCG left the area and didn't call for reinforcement. The fact that the Taiwanese were able to bring the damaged boat into tow and back to Taiwan w/o interferance. And for the Taiwanese government to lodge a complaint before the PNoy goverment knew it is baffling... inamin na lang after na buking.

[Monseratto]

PNoy is too busy with the elections...go away.

The government of Taiwan has given the Philippines until Wednesday to apologise for the death of a Taiwanese fisherman whose vessel was fired on by the Philippine coastguard.

Taiwan is also demanding compensation and the arrest of those responsible.

It has warned the Philippines of diplomatic and economic measures if it does not respond positively.

The Philippine coastguard acknowledged that it had fired at the boat to "disable" its machinery.

It says that it was acting in self-defence.

Fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, 65, was shot dead on Thursday when the coastguard vessel opened fire on his boat.

He was in waters south-east of Taiwan and north of the Philippines, an area considered by both countries to be their exclusive economic zone.

Hours after his remains and vessel were returned to Taiwan, the president's office and the foreign ministry issued a series of demands to the Philippines.

They asked for a formal apology, the speeding up of the investigation into his death, punishment of the perpetrators, the payment of compensation to the fisherman's family and talks over fishing rights in the disputed area.

Taiwan also threatened to send the Philippines' representative back to Manila if its neighbour does not respond within 72-hours.

The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taiwan says that while the Philippines' representative to Taiwan has expressed sympathy and condolences to the victim's family, the Philippines has refused to apologise, pending the investigation.

Officials in Manila have said that their initial findings suggest that the coast guard acted in self-defence and that fishing boat tried to ram into the coastguard vessel.

The three surviving fishermen on board the vessel, including Mr Hung's son and son-in-law, have disputed this account.

After inspecting the boat, Taiwanese officials also said they did not find this explanation credible as there were 52 bullet holes in the boat and the fishermen were unarmed.

"This is very brutal and cold-blooded," Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said on Saturday, warning that his country would consider sanctions against the Philippines amid widespread public anger towards Manila over the shooting.

Taiwanese officials say that the coastguard chased the boat for some time and did not offer help to the distressed vessel after it was damaged by the shooting.

It argues that opening fire on an unarmed fishing boat violated international law.

Tens of thousands of Filipino migrant labourers work in Taiwan's manufacturing sectors and homes.