Call them the Downplay Duo. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo have become the headliners of the administration’s merry jig to minimize the culpability of the Chinese vessel that rammed a Filipino fishing boat in Reed Bank on June 9, and conversely find ways to blame the Filipino fishermen for the incident. Before the release of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Maritime Industry Authority (MIA)’s findings on the incident, Locsin was heard intoning on TV that the report “doesn’t paint our fishermen in the brightest light.” His breathless description of the fishermen’s alleged shortcomings: “There was no lookout, that the cook was out there on deck, everybody was asleep, and he looked up and there’s a boat coming, and continued with whatever he was doing, and then he looked up again, [and realized] ‘Oh, it’s coming closer.’ And then he looked up again and my God, it’s gonna hit.”

Verdict: 'Very Serious Marine Casualty'. (2019, July 10). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A10.