GOVERNMENT is considering the deployment of Philippine Navy ships in securing Filipino fishermen in the contested West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said yesterday.
Malaya, also spokesman of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, made the remarks a day after a Chinese Navy warship conducted dangerous maneuvers against a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel out to secure Filipino fishermen at Scarborough Shoal.
“In the past, PLAN (People’s Liberation Army-Navy) ships were in the area but they were just in the horizon. They would not do dangerous maneuvers against our Philippine vessels,” Malaya said in a television interview.
But on Wednesday, Malaya said, a PLAN ship with bow number 500 blocked and shadowed the PCG’s BRP Teresa Magbanua some 19 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc.
BRP Teresa Magbanua was among four PCG and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessels sent to Scarborough Shoal to conduct patrols to support Filipino fishermen in the area.
Another PCG vessel, BRP Cabra, was shadowed by a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel.
The BFAR vessel, BRP Datu Pagbuaya, was subjected to dangerous maneuvers by another CCG vessel. The BFAR vessel was later sideswiped on its starboard or right side and subjected to water cannon attack.
Also on Wednesday, CCG vessels harassed two BFAR ships — BRP Datu Bankaw and BRP Datu Romapenet — at the vicinity of Sabina Shoal, also known Escoda Shoal.
The two vessels, along with PCG’s BRP Melchora Aquino and BRP Cape Engaño, were responding to a report about Chinese Coast Guard vessels preventing Filipino from fishing at the shoal.
BRP Bankaw was subjected to dangerous maneuver while BRP Datu Romapenet was rammed and sustained significant damage.
Malaya said the PCG and BFAR vessels went to Scarborough and Sabina shoals “in support of our fishermen,” after receiving reports that the Chinese were harassing Filipino fishermen in these areas.
ESCALATORY MOVE
“The National Security Council considers this a provocation and an escalatory move on the part of the People’s Republic of China,” said Malaya, referring to the involvement of the PLAN ship in the harassment of the PCG vessel.
The PCG has said it was the first time a PLAN ship was involved in dangerous maneuver and blocking in the West Philippine Sea. CCG and Chinese maritime militia vessels are usually the ones involved in such harassments.
“It is they (China) that first deployed the PLAN ship. Therefore, it is also within the right of the Philippines and we reserve that right to deploy also our Philippine Navy ships in the future,” said Malaya.
Malaya said Philippine Navy ships are not for such operations because the government wants to demilitarize the issue.
“If you will notice for the past many years, we (Philippine government) have never deployed a Navy ship. They’re just at the horizon monitoring what’s happening,” said Malaya.
He also said Chinese Navy ships, in the past, were in these areas but did not involve themselves in such dangerous maneuvers against Philippine government vessels.
“But in this case (last Wednesday), the PRC decided to utilize the PLAN ship in blocking a civilian (PCG vessel) of the Philippines. We are alarmed by this development. And as I said, we reserve the right to deploy our Philippine Navy ships as well because it’s unfair, it unequal if a civilian ship is facing a warship of the People’s Republic of China,” added Malaya.
In a message later, Malaya said: “In response to the escalation by the PRC of deploying PLAN ships to actively impede our resupply missions to our PH fishermen, the PH government also reserves the right to deploy the PN ships at a place and time of our choosing.”
Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the military will continue to conduct maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea.
“As part of our mandate, we will continue to conduct regular maritime patrols through the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force to assert our sovereignty, sovereign rights and protect our territorial waters,” said Trinidad.
Trinidad said the Armed Forces will be “actively monitoring developments to ensure a vigilant presence in the area.”
“The AFP remains committed to safeguarding national interests and maintaining stability in our maritime zones,” said Trinidad.
DIPLOMATIC PROTEST
The Department of Foreign Affairs filed a diplomatic protest over the Scarborough and Escoda incidents.
The protest was submitted to the Chinese Embassy in Manila late yesterday.
Manila has filed about 60 diplomatic protests with Beijing against the aggressive and harassment activities by their coast guard and maritime militia vessels on Filipino ships in the WPS. Since the start of the Marcos administration, the DFA has lodged around 190 protests against China.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the operations conducted by the Philippines in Bajo de Masinloc and Escoda Shoal were within the country’s legal rights and that China’s actions against the PCG and BFAR ships were “clearly illegal.”
“It’s very clear I mean we were within our legal rights. Certainly we don’t understand why China again is repeating these actions which are clearly illegal,” Manalo said.
Escoda Shoal is located 75 nautical miles it about 140 kilometers off the coast of Palawan, well within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
Last month, the National Maritime Council rejected China’s recent move to draw baselines around Scarborough Shoal, saying this act infringes on Manila’s sovereignty over the area.
Beijing’s release of the baselines came after Marcos signed into law the Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sealanes Act.
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, including the parts claimed by Manila as the West Philippine Sea, as well as those of Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
In 2016, the Netherlands- based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s sweeping claim in the disputed water under its so-called nine dash line, saying it has no legal or historical basis but Beijing refused to abide by the arbitral ruling. – With Ashzel Hachero
