Fisherfolk members of the Panatag Fisherfolk Association, a local organization of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), will collectively fish on May 30-31 in response to the annual “fishing ban” imposed by China. The ban from May to September 16 covered the areas of the South China Sea “12 degrees latitude north” which includes Panatag Shoal (Scarborough), which is 124-nautical miles from Zambales.

“We will defy China’s baseless fishing ban in our waters. No foreigner has the right to ban fishing in our own territory,” Joey Marabe, Zambales Fisheries coordinator, said.

He said, “It is insulting and unacceptable for China to be the implementor of a fishing ban to supposedly conserve the ocean, while it carries out destructive activities such as reclamation and illegal fishing methods.”

At least 20 small boats will participate in collective fishing to defy China’s 4-month fishing ban. The group insists, this is part of promoting the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea. They will fish 20-30 nautical miles off the coast of Masinloc, Zambales.

Ronnel Arambulo, Pamalakaya national second chairman, stated that “collective economic activity is the only good way to assert our right to fish in our exclusive economic zone.”

China’s fishing ban was clarified by the International Arbitral Ruling in 2016 to be against international laws. They said, this is against Article 56 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Pamalakaya has long asserted the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea. It opposes both China’s intervention in the country’s maritime territory and the US’s further trampling on Philippine sovereignty. It also condemned the the Marcos regime for imposing a fishing ban on the coast of Palawan, Zambales and Ilocos to make way for the Balikatan 39-24 and bombing in the ocean as part of war games.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs once again filed a diplomatic protest against China’s fishing ban. This is the agency’s 25th diplomatic protest against China this year and 158th under the Marcos regime.