US confirms tanker brought fuel from Pearl Harbor to Subic

The US Embassy in Manila on Thursday confirmed the reported shipment of fuel from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to a commercial storage facility in Subic Bay.

Senator Imee Marcos has said that the supposed silence of the two countries raised suspicions about the alleged prepositioning of military supplies in the Philippines amid a potential conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.

In a statement, US Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay said that other shipments were also made to other locations in the Pacific.

“We can confirm that the Yosemite Trader, a commercial tanker, is currently in the vicinity of Subic Bay, Philippines in order to transfer clean fuel from the U.S. military facility at Red Hill, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to a commercial storage facility at Subic Bay,” Gangopadhyay said.

He said the transaction was made through proper channels and logistics contracts with Philippine commercial entities.

Imee Marcos, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on Wednesday, asked for an explanation from concerned Philippine agencies about the fuel shipment of 39 million gallons of fuel.

Asked about the size of the fuel shipment, Gangopadhyay referred the matter to the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).

The Department of National Defense (DND) also confirmed the shipment describing it as a commercial transaction between the US Government and Philippine companies.

“The shipment of fuel from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA to a storage facility in the Subic Bay Freeport in the Philippines via the commercial tanker Yosemite Trader is part of regular commercial transactions between the US Government and Philippine companies,” it said in a statement.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar said concerned agencies should address the concerns as the fuel shipment was “administrative in nature.”

“The AFP has nothing to explain. In fact, the fuel shipment and the process that was followed by the US government, which are all administrative in nature, did not involve the participation of the AFP,” he told reporters.

Marcos said data from several international shipping trackers showed that the oil cargo was loaded at Pearl Harbor Yosemite Trader on December 20, 2023, and entered the Philippines on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the Yosemite Trader stayed in its position overnight around 50 kilometers west of Subic Bay, she added citing shipping tracker Marine Vessel Traffic.

"The Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) is not a license to leave the Filipino people in the dark. Subic is not an EDCA site, so where in Philippine territory will millions of gallons of oil be stored?" she said.

"This is not just an issue of foreign policy but of Philippine sovereignty, even environmental safety. The government better have a clear explanation for this," she added.

The MDT is a 70-year-old accord between the Philippines and the US.

Under the MDT, the two countries agreed that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either the Philippines or the US would be dangerous and that they would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.

Signed in 2014, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities and allows them to build facilities and preposition equipment, aircraft, and vessels. —NB, GMA Integrated News