The Philippines today assured Vietnam it will conduct a fair and thorough investigation into the deaths of two Vietnamese fishermen during a sea chase incident involving the Philippine Navy off the coast of Pangasinan on Saturday.
Foreign Affairs Secretary gave the assurance to Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh during the ASEAN Informal Foreign Ministers Meeting at the United Nations in New York hours after the incident.
“We would like to offer our sympathies over the unfortunate loss of life and give you our assurance that we will conduct a fair and thorough investigation into this matter,” Secretary Cayetano told Foreign Minister Minh, after informing him of the incident.
Secretary Cayetano said investigating teams from the Navy, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police have already been dispatched to Pangasinan to look into the incident.
Secretary Cayetano, at the same time, assured Minister Minh that the five other Vietnamese fishermen who were taken into custody will be accorded proper treatment and that they can be accessed anytime.
He said the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila is in touch with officials of the Vietnamese Embassy to update them on developments and facilitate their access to their nationals, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
The DFA said it received reports that Saturday’s incident involved a Navy patrol vessel and six Vietnamese fishing boats that it encountered fishing within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, 34 nautical miles off Cape Bolinao.
According to the reports, the Navy patrol boat, which was then en route to Subic, went after the Vietnamese fishing vessels. In the ensuing chase, one of the Vietnamese boats initiated very dangerous maneuvers that resulted in it slamming into the left front and left center of the Philippine patrol vessel.
The reports said this prompted personnel on board the Navy vessel to fire warning shots and when the Navy personnel boarded the fishing vessel, they found two dead Vietnamese fishermen. Five others surrendered and were taken into custody. ### | DFA-PR