Armed Forces of the Philippines-Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Emmanuel B. Salamat has said that they have not received any reports that Filipino fishermen are being prevented by the Chinese to fish on Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc.
A campaign video of senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares circulating on the Internet has shown that Filipino fisherfolk have been harassed by Chinese on the waters of the West Philippine Sea, specifically at Bajo de Masinloc, which is under the area of responsibility of the Nolcom.
“Nolcom aims to clarify these intriguing issues which were mentioned without proper substantiation as viewed from his campaign video. Issues like the presence of China’s dredging ships and Chinese harassments of Filipino fishermen in Zambales were heavily highlighted in the video,” Salamat said.
“We have coordinated with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and initially, there were no reports of Filipino fishermen being subjected to the said attack of Chinese water cannons, and so far, there were no sightings of dredging ships in the waters of Bajo de Masinloc or in the West Philippine Sea,” he added. (Francis Wakefield)