SAN SALVADOR ISLAND—With a piece of chalk, Christopher de Vera Sr. marked the sketch of a triangle-shaped Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal on the board, labeling the entrance in the east and pointing out where Chinese vessels are often seen on patrol.

Laughter filled the venue of the meeting, a classroom of San Salvador High School in this island-village of Masinloc, Zambales, as he recounted being chased away by Chinese vessels when he attempted to enter the area.

De Vera is a member of the Bigkis Fisherfolk Federation, which met with the head of the Peoples Development Institute (PDI), a nongovernment organization, on July 9 to discuss the House of Representatives’ inquiry into China’s human rights violations against Filipino fishers in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

In a letter sent to the House committee on human rights, PDI said Filipino fishers asserting their rights to Panatag’s resources are forced to endure severe harassment and intimidation by China, causing psychological trauma.

“China’s incursions into the WPS have environmental, economic, and social impact [negatively affecting] the Filipino fisherfolk whose right to food and right to personal security are being violated as they lose their main source of livelihood,” the letter read in part.  

500 families

Rony Drio, 57, has been fishing in the West Philippine Sea since he was a teenager, and fishing is his means of supporting his eight children. Over 500 families on the island rely primarily on fishing to survive. 

San Salvador is part of the 7,558-hectare Masinloc-Oyon Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape (MOPLS) under the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-Nipas) Act of 2018. The law defines protected areas as specific portions of land and/or water reserved for their unique physical and biological diversity, and safeguarded against destructive human activities.

The MOBPLS is divided into multiple-use zones (where fishing is allowed) and strict protection zones.

Drio is engaged in spearfishing, while others use nets and hooks in compliance with the E-Nipas Act and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. 

When typhoons and heavy rains prevent him from going out to sea, Drio tills a rice farm on the island in a sharing arrangement: Of the 10 sacks of palay harvested, the landowner gets three. “I only get a small income from it,” he said in Filipino.

How it was before

From February to June in the past, San Salvador fishers typically sailed to the municipal waters of Masinloc and headed to Panatag (or Bajo de Masinloc) to increase their catch. The shoal is approximately 120 nautical miles west of Masinloc, and its lagoon is known for abundant marine resources.

According to Bigkis president Randy Megu, 51, bright corals, visible during low tide, used to greet them when they entered the shoal. Further inside are white sandbars where they anchored their damaged boats for repair, he said.

The fishers recalled leaving home at midnight to be able to reach the shoal by morning, with daylight allowing them to easily locate its entrance. “We used to fish all day in Bajo de Masinloc,” Drio said.

But more than food, the shoal offered shelter to fishers during storms because of the serene waters in the lagoon. (In Filipino, Panatag means “calm.”)

All that changed in 2012 when, after a standoff between Philippine and Chinese vessels, China seized control of Panatag. It deployed its coast guard and maritime militia, which bullied and chased Filipino fishers away from the area.

Megu recalled the Chinese forces seizing their catch and sometimes their belongings in exchange for a pack of cigarettes and two bottles of liquor. 

The Filipinos are now unable to enter Panatag even during stormy weather.

Giant clams

And the Chinese forces’ increased harvesting of giant clams has gradually destroyed the marine environment. “The corals appeared to have become sand … and the fish decreased because of habitat loss,” Megu said.

In a 2023 report, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said 1,889 acres of reef in Scarborough Shoal have been damaged by Chinese fishers’ harvesting of giant clams.

The overall estimate of the CSIS, through its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, is that China’s giant clam harvesting has damaged over 16,500 acres of reef in the South China Sea.

According to the CSIS report titled “Deep Blue Scars: Environmental Threats to the South China Sea,” Chinese fishers use either brass propellers dragged into reef surfaces or high-pressure water pumps to suck out giant clams, destroying the seabed.

The report analyzed commercial satellite imagery of 181 features of the South China Sea. It showed that China is the top reef destroyer in the South China Sea through dredging and land fill, burying roughly 4,648 acres of reefs to build artificial islands.

“Panatag used to shine because of the corals surrounding it. It still shines today, but because of the lights of Chinese ships in the area,” Megu said.

Slashed income

According to the San Salvador fishers, their income has been cut nearly by half since China seized Panatag. They are now operating at a loss due to low catch and high expenses including diesel (of which they need between 100 and 1,000 liters per trip, depending on the boat size, at a cost of at least P60 per liter), and food (rice, groceries), as well as fishing bait.

The total expenses and the 10% commission for the boat owner are deducted from the revenue generated from the fish sales, Megu said, adding that the remaining amount is divided among the fishers aboard the boat.

In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China’s sweeping claim over almost the entire South China Sea under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The tribunal clarified that Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal constitutes fishing ground for nations including the Philippines, and ruled that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights by blocking Filipino fishers from these waters.

China continues to reject the arbitral ruling. In May 2024, China issued the “Provisions on Administrative Law Enforcement Procedures of Coast Guard Agencies” or the “China Coast Guard Order No. 3 of 2024,” a set of regulations outlining how its coast guard will carry out administrative law enforcement operations. 

The new regulation authorizes China’s coast guard to detain for up to 60 days foreigners suspected of violating exit and entry rules in waters it claims.

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has said that enforcing these regulations in the West Philippine Sea would be “in direct violation of international law.”

“Every sovereign state has the right to formulate and enact laws … however, a state’s domestic laws may not be applied and enforced in the territory, maritime zones or jurisdiction of other states,” the DFA statement read.

Fear

Still, Filipinos are avoiding fishing near Panatag for fear of what Chinese forces will do. “We have fear. We are afraid to fish there,” Drio said.

Bigkis urged the government to protect Filipinos and continue fighting for the Filipinos’ right to fish in the West Philippine Sea.  

Drio said the group had been calling on the authorities “to watch over us for our safety and peace of mind when we are fishing” in Panatag. But he acknowledged that it was a challenge considering China’s continuing aggression.

While Filipino fishers want the Philippine Coast Guard to be present and to extend help when they need it to ease their fear, “there’s nothing we can do,” Drio said. “From what I see now, it’s difficult because even our uniformed personnel at sea are being blocked.” 

Like Drio, Megu believes that the government should step up its efforts to resolve the conflict between the Philippines and China.

“They should find a way to solve this problem and restore the vigor and freedom of Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc,” Megu said.

Isa Jane Acabal, a journalism student of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication in Diliman, is an intern at CoverStory.ph.

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