On the way, organisers released orange buoys imprinted with the phrase “Atin Ito”, in a symbolic gesture to send the message that Filipinos should be free to fish where international law allows.
They were uniting against a threat to such freedom. The inner lagoon – which is teeming with rich marine life – has been controlled by China since Beijing seized it from Manila in 2012.
Fewer and fewer Filipino fishermen have been venturing out to Scarborough Shoal in fear of confrontation with the Chinese.
The prized shoal was ruled in international arbitration as a common fishing ground for artisanal fisherfolk of claimant-states including China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
However, China asserts it has indisputable sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, including Scarborough Shoal, despite an international ruling invalidating China’s claims and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea designating a nation’s maritime zones, including the belt of sea a country can claim based on distance from its coast.
