Reporting the Scarborough disputeContext, context, context

China behind the “ramming” incident?

Last June 25, the press published reports that a Chinese vessel had rammed and destroyed Filipino fishing boat AXL John in the seas off Bolinao, Pangasinan on June 20, resulting in the death of one Filipino fisherman and the injury of three others. Four fishermen were missing as well.

The press was not able to verify if the vessel was Chinese and if the “ramming” incident actually happened. The coverage mostly relied on National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos as the main source. Other indirect sources were the accounts of the survivors as told to local authorities. Chinese sources were only gathered in a few reports and often buried in the middle of the text.

Displeased with how the local press covered the incident, China, through its embassy in Manila stated in an online post: “Such media reports remain to be verified. Upon seeing the stories, the Chinese Embassy immediately checked with the relevant authorities in China and was told that, up until now there have been no reports of vessel collision accident or SOS requests on the reported dates and in the reported waters. Someone reportedly said that the Philippine fishing boat was ‘rammed by Chinese vessel’. We wonder what that news story was based upon. We hope relevant persons can verify the facts with a responsible attitude before they report.”

Because it was not possible to ascertain the identity of the ship or even the nature of the incident, the press should not have given this story such prominent space.

In the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s main story “Chinese ship rams Philippine fish boat; 1 dead: 4 missing, 3 injured in incident off Pangasinan” last June 25, Ramos said the Chinese vessel “might have intentionally hit” the fishing boat AXL John but the “vessel did nothing to help the fishermen.” “They did not (help),” the Inquirer quoted Ramos as saying. “That’s why it’s suspicious. If it was accidental, then they should have helped.”

The report added that the local police where the survivors were found could not identify the vessel that hit their boat. But the Inquirer also quoted Melchito Castro, director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), as saying that the survivors reported to the board owner that they believed it was a Chinese vessel behind the incident.

The Inquirer said the Filipino shipping vessel “may have been the first casualty in the dispute between China and the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal.”

The Manila Bulletin’s account stated that the boat’s operator had told the boat owner that the fishing vessel was “rammed by what appeared to be a Chinese vessel.” But the Bulletin also reported that “Philippine authorities could not immediately verify if the vessel that hit the Axl John was Chinese.” (“Pinoy Fishers: Chinese Vessel Rammed Our Boat“)

The Philippine Star and The Manila Times reported the incident as their lead stories, echoing Ramos’s line that a Chinese vessel had rammed the boat, although both said the allegation could not be independently verified and that Chinese embassy officials were not available for comment at that time. BusinessWorld also published a similar report. (Star: “1 dead in ramming of Phl fishing boat”, June 25; Times: “Chinese ship rams PH boat”; BusinessWorld: “Chinese vessel rams local fishing boat; 1 dead, 4 still missing”)

In its June 25 lead story, The Daily Tribune reported that a Chinese vessel was behind the ramming, even describing it as the “first physical encounter between Chinese and Philippine vessels” during the Scarborough Shoal naval standoff (One dead as Chinese ship sinks RP boat near shoal: Fishing craft’s captain says attack intentional”). A further reading showed the Tribune reporting that the foreign vessel was a “suspected Chinese vessel”.

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