A Philippine court has convicted 12 Chinese fishermen for illegally fishing in the Philippine waters, and sent them to long jail terms, possibly adding fuel to flaring tensions between the two countries.

The 12 Chinese poachers were on a 48-meter boat and were caught by Philippine rangers after their fishing boat got stranded on Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea in April of 2013.

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Alen Ross Rodriguez, chief prosecutor in the island of Palawan, which has jurisdiction over the Tubbataha, told AFP that they sought to quickly prosecute and resolve this case, so that no foreign fishermen would enter Philippine waters without permission and destroy marine life.

The ship's captain was sentenced for 12 years in prison while his men were given imprisonment terms of six to 10 years. In addition to their sentence, Judge Ambrosio de Luna also ordered the Chinese men to pay a fine amounting to U.S.$100,000.

Philippine rangers found on the ship a cargo of pangolins, endangered mammal like an anteater, eaten in China. The pangolins were believed to have came from Indonesia, but the extent of damage to the reef has not been ascertained.

Hong Lei, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that the Philippine government has been asked by China to ensure the Chinese men their legitimate rights and benefits as well as their safety.

According to the fishermen, they were on their way to China from Indonesia when they were stranded on the reef because of the bad weather. 

The fishermen testified they did not know that they were already in Philippine waters and pleaded innocent.

The area where they were stranded is well inside Philippine territory and is not far from, but not part of, the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in gas and oil deposits and fishery resources, and to which Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan, China and the Philippines have conflicting claims.

TagsChinese fishermen, chinese fisherman