PH Navy: Underwater drone recovered off Masbate may have military applications

The Philippine Navy on Tuesday said the underwater drone recovered in the waters off San Pascual, Masbate may be used for military applications.

“While initial observations suggest that it may be a submersible used for scientific research or fish tracking, alternative perspectives point to possible military applications,” Philippine Navy spokesperson Commander John Percie Alcos said at a press briefing.

The underwater drone is undergoing forensic analysis that will take six to eight weeks to determine its origin, purpose, and technical specifications, according to Alcos.

Through the Philippine Navy, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is “on top of the situation” and the military is taking the matter “very seriously,” he added.

The submarine drone was found by local fishermen in shallow waters near Barangay Inarawan in San Pascual, Masbate on December 30. It was turned over to the Philippine Navy on December 31.

Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the yellow underwater drone marked “HY-119” has a length of 3.5 meters, diameter of 24 centimeters, and weight of 94 kilograms.

“Equipment such as these are used for gathering bathymetric data, such as water temperature, the depth of water, and salinity. As mentioned, the AFP is on top of the situation and taking this seriously. A lot of speculation has been going on, but let me state that speculation is no substitute for evidence,” Trinidad said.

Asked if the underwater drone was from China, Trinidad said “open source would tell us the manufacturer. But again this will not amount to anything. We need hard scientific evidence to say where this came from and what are the other parameters around its presence.”

Security analyst Rene De Castro earlier said he believes that the underwater drone could be a military device.

“For military purpose po yan. Siguro for operation, tinitingnan siguro 'yung underwater terrain for submarine operations po,” he said. “For submarine warfare, hindi ko na ho kinagugulat 'yan, kasi talagang mainit ang ulo ng Tsina sa atin.”

(It’s for military purposes. Maybe it’s for operation, surveillance of the underwater terrain for submarine operations. So this could be for submarine warfare and I’m not surprised about it because China is mad at us.)

Before this, Trinidad said the Philippine military also recovered “bits and pieces” of similar equipment off the Pacific Ocean side of the country in the past two years. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News