MANILA — A Filipino fisherfolk group on Saturday rejected China's reported proposal for a partnership with fishing villages in the Philippines.

"Even without the benefit of our scrutiny, we know that nothing beneficial for Filipino fishers could come out from China’s proposed partnership with local fishing villages," fishers' organization Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a statement.

• China proposing partnership with local fishing villages: National Security Adviser

National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos on Friday said that the Chinese government had raised the possibility of a partnership with the Philippines' fishing groups, adding this was among the things being proposed to establish peace and resolution in the West Philippine Sea dispute following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s visit to Beijing earlier this month.

Pamalakaya said "any agreement with China won’t be accepted by Filipino fishers who are direct victims of its aggression."

For years, Filipino fishermen have been enduring China's harassment in the West Philippine Sea.

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• PH verifying reported Chinese harassment of local fishers

In 2019, a Philippine vessel sank following a collision with a Chinese vessel in the West Philippine Sea, endangering the lives of 22 fishermen onboard.

"We are witnesses how China abuses and plunders the resources in the West Philippine Sea, and how we are being harassed in our own fishing grounds," Pamalakaya said.

"So how can we enter into an agreement with a country that blatantly violates our fishing rights and our national sovereignty?"

The Philippines and China have long been involved in a maritime dispute as Beijing continues to assert its sweeping claims over the South China Sea, within which is the West Philippine Sea.

China continues to disregard a landmark 2016 arbitral ruling declaring its historical claims over almost the entire South China Sea as having no legal basis.

Pamalakaya also said that the recent ruling of the Supreme Court against the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) "should serve as a warning to the Marcos administration in entering any agreement with China that could further its presence in our territory."

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