Chinese vessel did not ram Filipino fishing boat: PCG

The Philippine Coast Guard clarified Thursday that a Chinese vessel did not ram a Filipino fishing boat in waters off Pangasinan last Monday, killing 3 fishermen. 

• 'News Patrol': 3 mangingisda patay matapos mabangga ang fishing boat nila sa Scarborough
• Coast Guard: 3 killed in ramming incident near Scarborough

"As a spokesperson for the Philippine Coast Guard for the West Philippine Sea, I can already tell the public that this is definitely not Chinese maritime militia," Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview. 

He added: "Not the Chinese vessel [and] not Chinese maritime militia na nakikita natin sa Bajo de Masinloc. Ito po ay foreign merchant vessel na dumadaaan sa nautical highway na 'yan sa Pangasinan."

Initial reports said 3 fishermen were killed after a ship, believed to be the Marshall Islands-flagged Pacific Anna, rammed the Filipino Fishing Boat (FFB) Dearyn off Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) last Monday. 
According to ship tracking websites MarineTraffic and VesselFinder, the Pacific Anna was sailing for Singapore from Incheon in South Korea and is expected to reach port by October 5.

Tarriela clarified that Bajo de Masinloc was only used as a point of reference, adding the actual site of the incident was 85 nautical miles — 157.42 kilometers — from the shoal. 

"This is not an incident that happened within the immediate vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc. This is actually beyond the coastal area of Pangasinan which has a distance of 118 nautical miles from Agno, Pangasinan. Nagkakaroon ng wrong connotation na sa Bajo de Masinloc kaya nagkakaroon ng wrong speculation din ang mga tao na Chinese," he said. 

He said the site of the collision is a known nautical highway with a lot of marine traffic. "Daanan talaga 'yan," he said. 

• Marine traffic view of collision that killed 3 Filipino fishermen