The NBI report, submitted to Aquino June 11, recommended the filing of administrative and criminal charges against the Coast Guard personnel, whose action caused serious diplomatic, political and economic problems for the country.
Although it has not been officially released, leaks to media, which were not denied by the NBI, revealed that the killing of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, 65, was unwarranted.
Sources said testimonies of personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources belied the claim of PCG that the 15-ton fiberglass made fishing vessel was ramming the 110-ton BFAR owned vessel, to justify the shooting of the fishing boat.
Taiwanese President Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeo, under pressure from an outraged constituency, made four demands from the Philippine government: formal apology, investigate the shooting and punish the guilty, compensation, and fisheries agreement.
Taiwanese meanwhile imposed sanctions: a freeze in the hiring of Filipino workers and a travel alert.
The sanctions translate to a loss of millions, even billions, of pesos. It means thousands of Filipinos remaining jobless because some 2,500 job applications are processed by Taiwan from Filipino applicants monthly. Those new hires join the more than 100,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan.
The travel alert dissuaded Taiwanese, who comprise the fifth largest tourist groups in the Philippines, from coming to the Philippines. Instead of Boracay, Palawan and Cebu, they went to Thailand.
President Aquino complied with the formal apology and Taiwan recognized it. The Taiwanese, however, took exception to the phrase “unintended loss of life” in Aquino’s apology.
The key to the compliance of the four demands and the normalization of Philippine-Taiwan relations is the release of the investigation reports of both parties. It was agreed by both Taiwan and the Philippines that immediately after the Philippines releases the NBI report, Taiwan will also release theirs.
The probe reports will clarify if the shooting was really “unintended”, as Aquino claimed.
The findings will be the basis of legal actions that the family of Hung would take. That would also determine the next steps to take with the Coast Guard personnel involved. They have been suspended and their status is in limbo.
The release of the findings will also help in determining the compensation for the victim.
The agreement of the Philippines to a PH-Taiwan accord is a major victory for Taiwan, because under the One-China policy that the country has adopted, relations with Taiwan, which is considered by China as its province, should be limited to people-to-people relations. China has, in fact, protested the planned accord.
At the initial meeting on the fisheries agreement held in Manila last month, both sides agreed not to use armed force against civilian vessels; share maritime law enforcement procedures; establish means for notifying each other without delay whenever there are arrests; prompt release of detained fishing vessels and their crews as provided for in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
There is no schedule of the next meeting pending the release of the probe results.
Meanwhile, processing of job applications of Filipino workers are also on hold.
Related articles:
Taiwan’s One Sanction Against The Philippines That Really Hurts
(sanctions) will hurt both sides.
Recalled diplomats can be replaced, and suddenly suspended talks on fishing or aviation cooperation can be resumed as sanctions come off some day when Manila recasts its apology for the May 9 shooting or Taiwan decides to drop its demands. Most of the $11 billon two-way trade relationship will stay intact.
It’s harder to say that about a freeze on Filipino migrant labor in Taiwan, also one of the sanctions.
The freeze effective from Wednesday bars new laborers, and the 88,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan now must leave once their contracts end. Contracts usually cover three years.
For the Taiwan side, the slow departure of Filipino workers without replacements will mean a loss of up to 1,000 English-speaking degree holders in white-collar IT jobs and many more thousands of manual workers in high-tech factories.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2013/05/15/taiwans-one-sanction-against-the-philippines-that-really-hurts/
From former Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo’s column:
This raises the question of why should we not release the report promptly? Is it not in our own interest to do so? Or at least to the thousands of OFWs bound for Taiwan? More important, why would the NBI report require presidential approval? Is it not the responsibility of the Department of Justice to take to the next step, which is to decide whether there are grounds for prosecuting the case?
Putting it in the hands of the President to decide is certain to give it political color and will undermine the credibility of the DOJ and the NBI. The Coast Guard has apparently provided its men with capable lawyers to defend them and why should they worry if they are confident of their version of the incident. So really, what is there for the President to decide on?
Let us hope this is just a case of presidential pique at the heavy-handed Taiwanese actuations in the course of this dispute. That I can understand, although hopefully not for long. Any other reason for the delay would test the credibility of our country’s justice system. We would lose the moral high ground completely and cede it back to Taiwan. International opinion would go against us.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/07/19/986051/nbi-report-taiwan-incident
Sabi daang-matuwid, so release the findings already. Pending it won’t change the facts of the probe and act accordingly. Kung kelangan mag-apology sa Taiwan at family ng nabaril gawin agad, at parusahan ang shooter.
Ang daming consequence ng kapi-pending sa hindi ko maintindihang rason liban sa gustong ng Palasyo na salbahin ang image ng Pinas (o ni Pinoy) sa international opinion. Ini-stretch pa ang paghihinagpis ng OFWs na hindi naman kasali sa usapan.
Pinoy had apologized already. What else do they want? Fisheries agreement? They had depleted their own fishing grounds, now they want ours. Namihasa kasi. Dati halos wala nag papatrol dyan. They were fishing (and smuggling) at will. Time to upgrade our fishing industry before somebody else depletes our own fishing grounds. I believe the President when he said the killing was untintentional. Taiwan wants more concessions which we cannot afford.
There is no problem with that Jake, if that’s what the Philippines want.
Then the President should release the NBI report and say that. Then we can move on from there.
Madalas na ulit bumisita si lulimon sa blog ni Ellen. 🙂
Dami naman Ma Ling(spam).
Oo nga, Chi and Jake. Nakaka-inis.
dahil nga, kung ano ang itinuro ng sitser, ‘yun ang sinusunod ng estudyante, ‘di baga?
kaya hayan, KUNG hindi ipamalimos ng trabaho ang mga pinoy, baka halos sa bangketa na nakatira ang karamihang kababayan.
saka walang maaaring ipagmalaki o ipanlban ang gobyerno natin dahil nga ang kaya la’ang ieksport ay manpower at wala ng iba.
If I were to be asked how to respond, I will call their (Taiwan’s) bluff. Yes, they can hire cheaper factory and construction laborers from Cambodia, Burma, even Indonesia but their manufacturing industries will suffer without our English-speaking workers. For example, food exporters to the West need our proofreaders to make sure labels carry the correct info at all times. Especially the US, shiploads of goods are rejected if one sample product have deficient labels, manuals, or other informative literature. The Taiwanese will lose millions from such simple shortcomings we Pinoys make sure do not occur. Multiply this cost across multiple industries and you have a potential business bubble about to explode. Add to that our customer service agents who handle customer complaints, inquiries, the works. Take out all the Pinoys and they are crippled.