PCG ready to provide more, larger vessels for resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) stands ready should the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) request for more vessels that will escort boats for resupply missions to BRP Sierra Madre at the Ayungin Shoal, following China’s water cannon blasting incident last week.

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said, “If the Armed Forces of the Philippines would request the Philippine Coast Guard to provide escort, we will deploy vessels that will support the supply mission.”

Tarriela said PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu “is willing to deploy additional vessels to support the resupply mission and if it needs be to deploy a 97-meter vessel that would also be an option.”

The PCG is also willing to deploy the offshore patrol vessel, “which is bigger than the 44-meter that we deployed before.”

Last weekend, the China Coast Guard (CCG) used water cannons against the PCG vessels going to Ayungin Shoal for a resupply mission at the BRP Sierra Madre.

Beijing claimed that the Philippine ships intruded into the Ayungin Shoal, which it said is part of its territory, and violated China's laws during the conduct of the resupply mission.

The Ayungin Shoal, however, is part of the Kalayaan Island Group, which is an integral part of the Philippines, as well as the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, over which the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction.

Philippine lawmakers condemned the August 5 incident, and Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri urged Marcos to bring the issue before the international community.

The US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and the European Union have also decried the event, restating their support for the 2016 arbitral ruling.

This is not the first time that Chinese vessels have used water cannons against Philippine ships or targeted resupply missions to the Sierra Madre, a rusting Navy ship that has been moored at Ayungin Shoal since 1999.

In 2016, the Philippines scored victory in a landmark ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated China's massive claims to nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, or the waters within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

China has refused to recognize the ruling, and has made repeated incursions into territories in the sea as well as conducted reclamation activities in the area. —VAL, GMA Integrated News