Government vows: Philippines will never abandon Ayungin

NSA slams ‘blockade’ of shoal

MANILA, Philippines — Under threat of being surrounded and blockaded by Chinese vessels, the government vowed that Ayungin Shoal will never be abandoned by Filipinos.

National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya made the pronouncement yesterday in the wake of the latest move by the Chinese to stop a resupply mission to the outpost, by firing a water cannon at a Philippine Navy vessel escorting civilian boats that were delivering provisions to the BRP Sierra Madre.

“For the record, we will never abandon Ayungin Shoal. We are committed to Ayungin Shoal,” Malaya said at a press briefing held by the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The DFA fired off another note verbale against Beijing over the Ayungin incident.

President Marcos called a military command conference Monday to come up with comprehensive actions against China’s continued aggression.

“The incident speaks for itself,” Malaya said, referring to the incident on Aug. 5.

The National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea led by National Security Adviser Eduardo Año issued a statement denouncing China’s latest aggression.

Malaya said the incident was an apparent attempt by China to test the Philippines’ resolve to protect its territorial integrity.

“If you wish to speculate (over the reasons for the incident), they are probably looking for weakness in the Philippine position or are trying to gauge our commitment to supply our troops in the shoal,” Malaya said.

“And we are here precisely to reassure the Filipino people that as directed by our President, we are consistent… that we will not lose an inch of our territory,” he said.

Also at the briefing were Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela and DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza.

“The increased number of Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels, movement in concert with the Chinese maritime militia, effectively proves to the whole world that they are instruments of the Chinese Coast Guard, or the Chinese Navy, the Chinese government,” Malaya said.

He said Chinese Maritime Militia vessels were apparently in Philippine waters to watch over Chinese vessels.

“(It was a) concerted effort wherein our ships were effectively corralled. This was just like a David vs Goliath situation. Because there were only two Coast Guard vessels and two Philippine supply boats against six large Chinese Coast Guard vessels and two Chinese militia vessels and more People’s Liberation Army vessels at near proximity in the area,” Malaya said. “This looks like a blockade of the Ayungin Shoal.”

He said “it clearly showed the increased deployment of the Chinese Coast Guard vessels, the most number in recent memory.”

Mission valid

Malaya also said that the AFP was well within its rights to send out Rotation and Reprovisioning or RORE missions to Ayungin Shoal.

“When we do resupply missions, we are exercising our rights under international law. Because as mentioned, we have a permanently stationed Philippine-commissioned Navy vessel in Ayungin Shoal,” Malaya said.

“When we do resupply, we provide them with what is necessary for the maintenance of the LS-57. So we provide food, we provide everything, provisions. Irrespective of what China says. It is our right to bring whatever is necessary to maintain the station and ensure that our troops there are properly provisioned,” he said.

The AFP also emphasized it will continue to resupply its small outpost on BRP Sierra Madre as it demanded explanation from the Chinese of their latest act of provocation when they fired water cannon at a Philippine Navy resupply vessel.

“BRP Sierra Madre is a commissioned vessel of the Philippine Navy. It is therefore the Navy’s responsibility to man it and maintain it for the safety of our troops deployed there,” Aguilar said at a press briefing, referring to the decrepit World War II era landing ship deliberately beached in Ayungin Shoal to serve as an outpost for a handful of Marines.

Aguilar said the incident, which happened last Aug. 5, prevented the Navy from delivering supplies to the outpost.

“The RORE, as recognized by many countries, is a legal operation being conducted by the Armed Forces through the Philippine Navy within the country’s exclusive economic zone,” Aguilar said.

“We will continue the RORE mission to ensure the well-being of our Marines and sailors and to perform our obligations in the region,” he pointed out.

“The world probably is expecting a better explanation from the China Coast Guard,” Aguilar said. “Because right now, they cannot just hide their action behind the term ‘necessary control’ because their acts contradict what they are saying.”

He said the AFP has expressed appreciation to the “bravery and commitment of all those involved in the RORE mission.”

Marcos was asked about the incident in an interview in Malolos, Bulacan after attending a situation briefing and distributing aid to flood victims in the province.

Marcos said Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo delivered on Monday a note verbale to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian.

He said the government would wait for China’s response, as he refused to discuss the operational aspects of the recent incident involving the CCG.

“But we continue to assert our sovereignty.  We continue to assert our territorial rights in the face of all of these challenges and consistent with the international law and UNCLOS especially,” the President said, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“That has always been our stand. But we still have to keep communicating with the Chinese government, with President Xi (Jinping), with Beijing. We still have to keep communicating with them because we need to really come to a conclusion,” he added.

While there was no report of injuries during the incident, Marcos said China’s recent action against the PCG would lead to insufficient supply for the troops stationed in the Philippine-claimed shoal.

“Fortunately, no one was hurt, no reported injuries, however, their (Filipino troops) supplies there in Sierra Madre will be low so we need to think what we will do next,” he said.

Speaker Martin Romualdez, meanwhile, said he is in favor of Marcos’ plan to consult military leaders on the illegal use of water cannon by the CCG.

DFA’s Daza said it was Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro who presented to Huang the strongly worded diplomatic protest yesterday morning.

In a statement, the DFA said, “Undersecretary Lazaro conveyed to Chinese Ambassador Huang the strong protest of the Philippine Government on the blocking and water cannon operations by the Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia vessels against Philippine indigenous boats conducting a regular rotation and resupply and humanitarian mission to provide food, fuel and other basic necessities to the Philippine military personnel stationed on BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal.”

According to the DFA, the blocking and water cannoning incident lasted for over an hour.

The DFA further called China’s attention that its actions were contrary to China’s Flag State obligations under the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), which requires states to take measures necessary to ensure safety at sea and prevent ship collisions.

“The DFA also expressed our disappointment that the Department was unable to reach its counterpart through the maritime communication mechanism for several hours while the incident was occurring, and expressed our hope that the Chinese side would reciprocate, with the same sense of urgency, the communications initiated by the Philippines as has been demonstrated by the Philippines when receiving communications initiated by the Chinese side,” the DFA said.

The Philippines has filed 445 diplomatic protests since 2020 over China’s illegal activities in the West Philippine Sea.

The filing of diplomatic protests, she said, is important to correct China’s narrative and to protest Beijing’s actions.

“We value our relations with China and we hope that they too value the relations with the Philippines, but clearly this incident undermines efforts to strengthen mutual trust and confidence, a crucial element in friendly relations among states, between our countries and it does provide tension in our bilateral relation,” Daza stressed. — Pia Lee-Brago, Sheila Crisostomo