Palace announced on Saturday President Rodrigo Duterte approved a joint investigation with China on the Recto Bank incident involving a collision between Filipino and Chinese fishing vessels.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte accepted the offer by Chinese government to conduct joint probe on the collision incident between the two vessels in Recto Bank last June 9.

"To this end, the President wants the creation of a joint investigating committee that shall be composed of three groups of highly qualified and competent individuals, with Philippines and China having one representative each, and a third member coming from a neutral country," Panelo said.

Panelo also added that separate investigations will result to "speculation and accusation of bias."

Panelo explained that a joint and impartial probe is in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which greatly promotes "peaceful means" in resolving sea disputes between different nations.

"To be clear, we are by no means relinquishing any inch of our sovereign rights, nor compromising the rights of our twenty two (22) fishermen. We are demanding justice for our countrymen, and we are using all legal means toward that end," he said.

"The duty of seafarers to rescue those at peril in the sea is a well entrenched principle of international law, maritime law, and humanitarian law as well. The basic dictates of justice demand a full account of the events that ultimately led to the abandonment of our twenty two distressed fishermen in the middle of the sea and accountability of those at fault," Panelo added. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS