Fisherman Mario Forones has been spending most of his time tending to his stall at the fish market here. Forones, 55, used to be an operator of three fishing boats that ventured out into the disputed Scarborough Shoal. “I’ve already sold all my boats. I’m not going back to the shoal,” he said. The shoal is 240 kilometers from the coastline of Zambales province but China seized that rich fishing area from the Philippines after a two-month standoff in 2012. Chinese coast guards had cordoned off the shoal, driving away Filipino fishermen in spite of a July 12 judgment from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources within its nine-dash line. Forones is among the first people here to bear the brunt of the long-standing tension in the West Philippine Sea.

Macatuno, A. (2016, July 26). Displaced fishermen can hardly cope with shoal conflict. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A8.