What the hell is going on with the Philippine Coast Guard?

via PhilStar.

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recommended that homicide charges be filed against eight Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel involved in the Balintang Channel shooting.
Revealing results of the June investigation, NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas said on Wednesday that all eight PCG crewmen on board surveillance vessel MCS 3001 were found to have fired at the Taiwanese boat, killing 65-year-old Hung Shih-cheng on May 9.
Rojas added that the investigation report also showed that the shooting was within Philippine territory in the waterway off Batanes Islands.
He said that PCG personnel can only use firearms when there is an existing fatal threat, which was not established in the investigation.
Rojas also said that four other PCG personnel will be charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly tampering with the video evidence submitted to the investigators.
"These PCG officers and personnel falsified a gunnery report which reduced the rounds of ammunition used in the incident. They also spliced the video taken of the incident cutting off vital portions, which they then presented to NBI investigators," the NBI official said.

Uh wow.

This sounds more like the North Korean Coast Guard, not the Philippines.  Read the whole story here, but this is not good.  Everyone is focusing on strategic resources when it comes to the disputed areas in the Pacific, but a bigger flashpoint will probably surround illegal fishing.  The Japanese, Chinese, both Koreas, the Philippines...practically all the Pacific countries (to include the US) are jealously guarding their waters.

The future fight might not be over specks of land...or oil on the ocean bottoms.

It might be about fish.