Seeing ‘red’ all over the places

For the nth time, Chinese Coast Guard ships attacked with water cannons our Philippine vessels to shoo them away from the humanitarian mission to our Filipino fishermen in Panatag Shoal last Tuesday. At least five Chinese militia-crewed ships tried to prevent the entry of our civilian ships to reach the shoal although already surrounded with floating barriers that surreptitiously reappeared around its rich fishing grounds.

Internationally named as Scarborough Shoal, the Panatag Shoal is actually a formation of rocks that emerge during low tide. But the rocks, the shoal are within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The Chinese militia-steered ships trained their water cannons using jet-stream pressure at both the starboard and port sides of our Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) vessel BRP Bagacay and at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) ship BRP Bankaw. They visibly targeted the radar equipment of our two ships to disable them. But the Philippine flag flying atop the two ships proudly withstood the repeated water cannon attacks.

A day after this incident, Philippine Navy spokesman for the WPS Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad announced in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay that our two ships were able “to regroup” later that night. Trinidad reported the two ships completed their humanitarian mission to bring food, fuel and other “ayuda” to Filipino fishermen waiting for them around the Panatag Shoal.

The Philippines, he vows, will not engage in a “water cannon war” with China. But he hastened to clarify that this does not mean our Philippine government allows such wanton disrespect of our sovereign rights over the contested overlapping maritime claims around the WPS.

“It just so happens that our government is very strong in resisting against what China is doing which may seem tolerable but is actually what I call a creeping invasion,” Trinidad warned.

Trinidad stressed they will observe and abide by the instructions of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) as the country’s chief foreign policy architect. He reiterated the Philippine Navy, the PCG, and the BFAR will not be deterred to perform their mandates in accordance with the guidance of President Marcos as their Commander-in-Chief.

One of which is to act in accordance with international law that Trinidad cited has earned for the Philippines the respect and support of the community of nations denouncing Beijing’s aggression at South China Sea. Trinidad specifically cited the United States as the traditional ally of the Philippines for reiterating its “iron-clad” commitment under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) to help defend territories against armed aggression. Trinidad extolled the navigation skills of our ship officers and men on defensive maneuvers to prevent events that could justify the activation of MDT.

Once called as “Red China” during the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949), the territories under the communist regime gave birth to the People’s Republic of China. Becoming a super power through the years, Beijing has been flexing its military might in insisting its nine-dash claims around the entire South China Sea.

The Philippines won the case against Beijing’s South China Sea claims, which is in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). A signatory country to the UNCLOS, Beijing refused to recognize the July 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that upheld the EEZ rights of the Philippines.

Echoing the sentiments of his Navy counterpart, PCG official spokesman for the WPS  Commodore Jay Tarriela scored the persistent narratives of Beijing through its designated “mouthpieces” in China and here in the Philippines.

“The Chinese government has always said there is a red line,” the PCG spokesman for WPS cited.

“They said we could not cross the 12 nautical mile limit to the (Panatag) shoal. But under this administration, we have already broken that red line, to show that China is not respecting international law,” Tarriela asserted.

Coming all the way from Malacañang where he joined the Labor Day rites with PBBM, newly appointed Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Leo Hans Cacdac announced to us at the same news forum that 42 of our Filipino seafarers escaped harm from missile attacks by Houthi rebels against foreign-flagged vessels cruising through the Red Sea.

Fortunately, none of them got injured, Cacdac reported. The latest incidents took place on separate dates – April 24, 25 and 29 – when six foreign bulk ships were attacked by Houthi rebels. The Pinoy seafarers were on board in three of these six ships  that got hit by drone missiles while passing through the Red Sea.

Cacdac noted with relief that at least 25 other Pinoy seamen invoked their “right of refusal” to board their ship upon being told they would pass through the Houthi rebels infested waters at the Red Sea. He explained all seafarers are covered by this international rules and safeguards without being held liable for the work contract with the shipping company.

There are still 17 Filipino seafarers earlier captured and being held as hostages by Houthi rebels while their ships were cruising the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Two other Pinoy seafarers were killed and two others were injured when Houthi rebels attacked another vessel last March.

The DMW earlier declared the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as “war-like zones” and high risk areas that must be avoided at all cost. On the other hand, our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) fired off another demarche to Beijing and demanded the removal of Chinese vessels in our maritime territories.

Meanwhile, our own left-leaning groups from the militant labor ranks denounced the water attack version on them by the Manila police anti-riot squad during the Labor Day rally. Insisting for higher wages and better working conditions, the militant labor groups also pressed against US interference in the South China Sea issue.

Ignited perhaps by the red streamers all over the places, the police stopped the rallyists when they tried to crossed the no-entry yellow line in front of the US Embassy in Roxas Boulevard. Just saying.