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AFTER 5 MONTHS IN SABINA SHOAL

BRP Teresa Magbanua returns to Palawan with hungry, dehydrated crew

By JOSEPH MORONG, GMA Integrated News

PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan — Some 60 hungry and dehydrated Philippine Coast guard personnel returned home to Palawan aboard BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701), ending a five-month stalemate with Chinese forces in Escoda Shoal (International name: Sabina Shoal).

Coast Guard officials were quick to say the reason for the pullout of the Magbanua from the disputed waters was humanitarian rather than political.

“While committed to her mission at Escoda Shoal, BRP Teresa Magbanua was compelled to return to port due to unfavorable weather conditions and depleted supplies of daily necessities,” PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said.

Sources say the ship’s crew subsisted on rice porridge (lugaw) for three weeks and had run out of food two days prior to their return.

The ship had also ran out of drinking water.

Sources also said four sick crew members were receiving dextrose for medical treatment while another has a leg injury. They were to be taken to a hospital upon arrival.

Upon arrival, four PCG personnel were immediately transferred to waiting vehicles at the pier after the ship finished docking.

GMA Integrated News saw two crewmen being carrier out via stretchers while being administered IV fluids.

PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan said  the four coast guardsmen were dehydrated.

 


PCG senior officials were at the dock in Puerto Princesa to meet the Magbanua as it docked in Puerto Princesa. These included Gavan, Tarriela and District Director Captain Dennis Labay.

BRP Teresa Magbanua was sent to Escoda Shoal last April, which is located some 140 kilometers from Palawan and inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), to guard against alleged reclamation activities by the Chinese.

He added that it was complicated by structural damages when the Magbanua sustained structural damages when China Coast Guard vessels deliberately rammed the vessel on August 31.


CREW PRAISED

The Coast Guard lauded the patriotism of the personnel on board BRP Teresa Magbanua.

“The PCG acknowledges the unwavering patriotism, unshakeable bravery, dedication, and unparalleled professionalism of our personnel on board BRP Teresa Magbanua, as they carried out and performed their mission in Escoda Shoal even in dangerous and adverse operational  conditions,” Tarriela said. 

China Coast Guard vessels shadowed BRP Teresa Magbanua when it pulled out from Escoda Shoal.

In August, some 40 China Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia vessels blocked a resupply mission to the Magbanua, which was stationed to the disputed waters last April.

The PCG successfully airdropped supplies thereafter but has not conducted any resupply mission since.

On August 31, Chinese naval forces intentionally rammed BRP Teresa Magbanua causing damage to the ship.

Just last week, China called on the Philippines to withdraw its vessels from the shoal.

China had also accused the Philippines of semi-grounding the Magbanua similar to what it says the country did with the Philippine Navy's BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, also located in the Philippines’ EEZ.

Tarriela said the Philippines remains committed to protect the shoal.

“The PCG is firmly committed and determined in protecting the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, including in Escoda Shoal that lies well within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award,” Tarriela said.

CCG REACTION

Meanwhile, the China Coast Guard (CCG) on Sunday also confirmed that the BRP Teresa Magbanua already left the Escoda Shoal, which it calls the Xianbin Jiao.

CCG spokesperson Liu Dejun asserted that the Philippine vessel was “illegally detained in China's Xianbin Jiao” for five months and that it “seriously violates China's territorial sovereignty, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and seriously undermines regional peace and stability.”

“We warn the Philippine side to stop inciting, hyping up, and risking infringement, and to work towards the same direction as China to uphold the seriousness and effectiveness of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” the CCG said.

“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Qundao, including Xianbin Jiao and the adjacent waters,” it added.

The CCG also said that the Chinese maritime police will continue “to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in the waters under China's jurisdiction in accordance with the law, and resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

The Philippine government sued China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013. The Court ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016 when it junked China's nine-dash claim over the South China Sea.

Beijing, however, has repeatedly refused to honor the ruling.—With a report from Giselle Ombao, RF GMA Integrated News

Tags: BRP Teresa Magbanua, Sabina Shoal, West Philippine sea, Philippine Coast Guard, China Coast Guard
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