What’s happening to Filipino fishermen in the South China Sea? At about the same time as a senior Philippine military officer denied reports Filipino fishermen were being harassed by Chinese security forces in the vicinity of Scarborough or Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, an even more senior US admiral said the fishermen were being regularly harassed and intimidated. Adm. Philip Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told a House armed services committee on Wednesday that Chinese coast guard vessels now under the command of the Central Military Commission “regularly harass and intimidate fishing vessels from our treaty ally, the Philippines, operating near Scarborough Reef, as well as the fishing fleets of other regional nations.”

Katigbak, J., Romero, A., & Lee-Brago, P. (2019, March 29). 'Chinese coast guard regularly intimidates Pinoy fishers in SCS'. The Philippine Star, p. 2.