Protesters display placards during a rally in front of the Chinese consular office in Manila yesterday against a Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground the World Heritage-listed Tubbataha coral reef in Palawan island, western Philippines.

AFP/Manila

The Philippines yesterday filed criminal charges against 12 crew members of a Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground on coral reefs at a marine sanctuary, an official said.

Charges of poaching and corruption of public officials were filed against the crew members of the FV Min Long Yu by the Tubbataha Management Office in Puerto Princesa City, 600kms south-west of Manila.

The steel-hulled, 48-metre boat got stuck at a northern islet of the Tubbataha Marine National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site, on April 8. Tubbataha, an isolated reef in the Sulu Sea, is famed for its spectacular and diverse marine life.

Angelique Songco, head of the Tubbataha Management Office, said charges of attempt to bribe public officials were filed on top of poaching because the Chinese crew members attempted to bribe park rangers with $2,400 “”to let them go.”

The fishermen could face long jail terms, a prosecutor warned. The 12 men have been in detention since sanctuary rangers found their vessel on Tuesday.

“We will seek to quickly resolve this case,” Alen Ross Rodriguez, chief prosecutor in the island province of Palawan, which has jurisdiction over Tubbataha, said.

“No one can just enter our waters and willfully destroy our marine life.”

However, Grizelda Mayo-Anda, head of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center in Palawan, said Chinese fishermen caught poaching in Philippine waters were typically deported quickly in an effort to appease China.

“The government has always treated them (fishermen) with kid gloves for political considerations so as not to cause any adverse reaction from China,” Mayo-Anda said.

She said more than 600 Chinese fishermen had been caught poaching over the past decade but in nearly every case they spent just a few weeks or months in jail before being deported.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the Philippine government had been asked to “ensure the legitimate rights, benefits and safety of the Chinese fishermen”.

The current case comes amid deep tensions between the Philippines and China over competing territorial claims to the neighbouring South China Sea.

The stranded 48-metre (157-foot) boat remained stuck on the reef yesterday, and was not expected to be removed before the weekend, according to the coast guard.

It was unclear how much damage the boat had caused to the reef.

President Benigno Aquino had earlier demanded the poachers should be charged. In an interview, the president said that he was upset after hearing about the second grounding incident in Tubbataha Reef. “That’s too much! The Guardian incident just ended, and we have another one?” he said. “The law says those caught must be held accountable. It’s a fishing vessel, the way I understand it, it will be the owners of the fishing vessel, amongst others, who will be charged,” he added.

The president said that under Republic Act 10067 or the Tubbataha Act of 2009, anyone entering the protected zone is considered a poacher. “The bottom line is we have a law, Republic Act 10067, that states that if you enter the zone, there is an immediate presumption that you want to poach. There are corresponding penalties – imprisonment, fines – and our job as the executive department is to executive this law,” he pointed out. Under the Tubbataha Act, commercial fishers found to be in violation of Section 19 (unauthorised entry, enjoyment or use of the Tubbataha reef) face stiffer penalties than regular entities — an imprisonment between one to three years and a fine of 500,000 pesos.

The new incident came after a US Navy minesweeper also got stuck on the reef in January, causing significant damage, and had to be dismantled for removal.