The President is waiting for all facts to come in before commenting on the incident involving Chinese and Filipino vessels in Reed Bank on June 9. This supposedly explains his long silence on the issue, amid different versions and a jumble of positions. The Chinese embassy, through a Facebook post, claimed the Yuemaobinyu 42212 was “suddenly besieged by seven or eight Filipino fishing boats.” As a result, during evacuation, a part of the Chinese boat “bumped into the Filipino pilothouse, and the Filipino boat tilted and its stern foundered.” The embassy also claimed that the Chinese captain tried to rescue the fishermen but became afraid of being besieged by the other Filipino boats. Thus, it sailed away from the scene.

Facts, and versions of them. (2019, June 18). Manila Standard, p. A4.