PH doesn't need permission to supply troops at Ayungin Shoal —AFP

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday stressed that the Philippine government does not need permission from any country to deliver supplies to troops stationed at an outpost in Ayungin Shoal.

AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Padilla issued the remark after the China Coast Guard (CCG) said it  made "temporary special arrangements" so that the Philippines could supply troops at BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57).

“Ang AFP po regular mission po natin ‘yan,” Padilla said in an interview.

(That is a regular mission of the AFP.)

“So we keep saying that we’re really going to provide the morale and welfare needs of our troops to include those from LS-57. We don't actually need any permission from any country for us to do so,” she added.

Padilla said the AFP’s missions will continue.

Meanwhile, asked if such remarks affect the AFP in anyway, Padilla said, “Hindi po sir (it doesn’t [affect us].)

Padilla said the AFP’s missions will continue regardless of the number of CCG vessels in the area.

“For sure tuloy-tuloy po. Mission po ng AFP to give our troops the required provisions that they need for their morale and welfare,” she said.

(For sure it will continue. It is the AFP’s mission to give our troops the required provisions that they need for their morale and welfare.)

Airdrop mission

The AFP Western Command conducted an airdrop mission in Ayungin Shoal recently.

The mission aimed to bring supplies to troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre amid China's attempts to block the Philippines' resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal. 

Ayungin Shoal 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.

The BRP Sierra Madre has been grounded at the Ayungin Shoal since 1999. It is manned by more than a dozen Marines and sailors and has become a symbol of Philippine sovereignty in the offshore territory.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line.’

China, however, has said that it does not recognize the ruling. — KG/RSJ, GMA Integrated News