Despite the reported harassment of Chinese Coast Guard ships
against Filipino fishermen, Western Command head Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez
on Tuesday told fishermen to continue asserting their fishing rights at
Scarborough Shoal as it is a legitimate Philippine territory.
"Our message (to Filipino fishermen despite the
purported Chinese harassment) is to continue going there (because) it is
ours.That's a traditional fishing country," he added.
He made this appeal especially to fishermen based in Northern Luzon .
At the same time, Lopez said there is an average three
Chinese Coast Guard ships off Scarborough Shoal, with the sole purpose of
driving away Filipino fisherfolks.
He also stressed that they are yet to detect any Chinese
reclamation efforts in the vicinity.
Scarborough Shoal has been placed under the operational
jurisdiction of the Palawan-based Western Command in February 2014, through the
orders of then Armed Forces of the Philippines
"The area of Bajo De Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) has
been transferred from the Northern Luzon Command to the Western Command. This
is to enhance our external defense capabilities which is now being concentrated
at the Western Command and unity of effort and command so that our external
defense efforts will just be under one commander and that is the Western
Command commander," he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=761293
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.