No surprise here.
At around 1pm on Thu, Jul 21, a GMA News team accompanied some Filipino fishermen aboard a fishing vessel to Panatag Shoal (called Huangyan Island by the Chinese).
“During the Spanish era, the Panatag Shoal was called Bajo de Masinloc, which meant ‘lower Masinloc.’ It is part of the municipality of Masinloc, Zambales. It is located 124 nautical miles west of Zambales, within the Philippine Continental Shelf,” noted GMA News Online.
However, the Chinese Coast Guard are probably still operating under the assumption that the Panatag Shoal is part of their territory.
The report noted: “When the Filipino fishing vessels decided to maneuver back to Masinloc in Zambales, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel tailed them and activated its Long Range Acoustic Device, a siren used for crowd dispersal.”
Then, using a megaphone, the Chinese Coast Guard told the Filipino fishermen, “Go back, go back!”
This was the same treatment experienced by the ABS-CBN News crew when they accompanied Filipino fishermen to the Scarborough Shoal on Jul 14.
READ: Reality bites: Chinese vessels block Filipino fishermen from going to Scarborough Shoal
So far, China has been consistent in ignoring the fact that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled in favor of the Philippines in the territorial dispute.
