‘Duterte coward’: Filipinos’ opinions of president and Beijing government sour after South China Sea sinking
- It took three days for news of the collision between a Philippine fishing boat and Chinese coastguard vessel to reach the public
- But when it did, anger grew rapidly
Two incidents have seen many Filipinos expressing outrage on social media. One is the ramming and sinking of a Philippine fishing boat by a larger Chinese vessel on June 9. The other is the temporary detention and rejection on June 21 of former foreign secretary and known China critic Albert del Rosario by immigration officials at Hong Kong’s airport.
It’s too early to tell how much anger over del Rosario’s treatment will grow, but the ire over the sinking of the fishing boat in the Reed Bank off Palawan has not abated. After smashing into the boat hard enough to slice it in half, the Chinese vessel sailed away, apparently leaving 22 fishermen to drown. Fortunately, the men were rescued a few hours later by a Vietnamese fishing boat. Ironically, the incident happened on the date the Philippines marks as “Philippine-Chinese friendship day”.
It took three days for a report of the sinking to reach the public but when it did, anger grew not only because the fishermen had been left in the water by the Chinese vessel, but also because the hit-and-run happened in Philippine waters. The rescued captain identified the vessel that sank his boat as Chinese and said it was a deliberate attack.
What poured fuel on outrage was how the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte handled the sinking. Far from protesting to China, Philippine officials played down the collision, with some even casting doubt over whether a Chinese vessel was really responsible – a position that was undercut when China itself admitted to the “accident”.
“I think he does not want some people to make a mountain out of a molehill,” he said.
Speaking in Tagalog, senator Cynthia Villar said: “It’s the president’s opinion that it was just a small incident which shouldn’t affect our relationship with China.”
Opponents and critics of Duterte began using a hashtag that trended for a while on Twitter: “Duterte Duwag” (Duterte coward). One lone protester went beyond social media and appeared in front of the foreign affairs department building, waving a Philippine flag and calling for government to act on the Chinese vessel, as security guards locked the gates.
Reacting to the photo of the protester, award winning writer Ogie Rosa tweeted in Tagalog: “You don’t need to be many to be heard. We hear you loud and clear, sir!”
The department said it had filed a “diplomatic protest” with Beijing, but did not release the text.
Some administration officials as well as Duterte supporters reacted by saying those who wanted to protest the collision were risking provoking a war with China. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said “the Reed Bank incident is being dressed with misplaced emotionalism and pretended nationalism by those who are bent on politicising an otherwise ordinary navigation incident into an international fracas”.
The argument was derided by critics as equating standing up to China with automatic hostilities. Some sardonically noted how, just a few weeks ago, an outraged Duterte had threatened to go to war with Canada because it had sent garbage and toxic waste surreptitiously to the Philippines.
Former Philippine envoy Lauro Baja said Duterte should raise the ramming incident at the Asean meeting this weekend.
Tessie Ang See, a prominent leader in the Filipino-Chinese community, said there had been previous instances of Chinese vessels ramming Philippine boats, but “there’s more anger now, because it’s something [that happened] within our territory”.
On social media, angry Filipinos resurrected two derogatory words from Philippine history: “makapili”, the term for Filipinos who collaborated with Japanese occupiers during the second world war, and “bayong”, the straw baskets that collaborators and traitors wore like hoods over their heads to disguise their identities.
The energy secretary went to the rescued fishermen, gave them money and new boats with engines – though it turned out the boats were too small to reach the rich fishing grounds of the Reed Bank, and the motors did not match the boats. After the turnover, the fishermen said the whole thing was an “accident” and were then made to pose doing the “Duterte fist”.
‘China’s not to be trusted’: Philippines’ Rosario wades into row over South China Sea sinking
Social media commenters noted how lacklustre the fishermen were, how their faces clearly showed lack of enthusiasm and that the energy secretary had been accompanied by a phalanx of policemen in riot gear.
One popular Twitter personality, The Professional Heckler, wrote: “abandoned at sea; survived to tell the truth; coerced by his own government; forced to tell a lie. The perils of being poor and powerless.” Opposition congressman Gary Alejano tweeted: “They are just ordinary fishermen with few options to take. They are actually victimised twice over, by the Chinese and by our own government.”
But when vice-president Leni Robredo visited the fishermen on Friday and gave them 50,000 pesos (US$971.58) each, they were all smiles. One fisherman revealed to her that the energy secretary had downplayed the incident, insisting the collision was not intentional.
