While investigators have described the June 9 sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel in Recto Bank as a serious concern, President Duterte dismissed it as a “very small” incident because he said had left no casualty. “It is serious but when you talk about marine transportation, it is a maritime incident. And that is very small because nobody died,” Duterte said in a chance interview Monday night at Malacañang. Investigators from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) described in a report the loss of F/B Gem-Ver 1 as “very serious maritime casualty.”

Mendez, C. (2019, July 10). Rody: GemVer incident small because nobody died. The Philippine Star, p. 6.