ARMED Forces chief Lt. Gen. Andres Centino said the military will not pull out a rusting Navy ship from a Philippine-occupied shoal in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
Centino made the statement weeks after the Chinese government demanded that the Philippine government remove the BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal, about 174 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa City.
The shoal is one of the nine areas occupied by Filipino troops in the contested West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea which is being claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
On November 24, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Ayungin Shoal, which the Chinese call Ren’ai Jiao, is part of China’s territory and demanded the Philippine government pull out the BRP Sierra Madre.
“We are not moving LT-57 or BRP Sierra Madre,” Centino said in an interview with the CNN Philippines that aired on Sunday night.
“It has been there since 1999. It is a permanent government post manned by our personnel from the AFP and it is there as a haven for our fishermen who would go to the shoal and it is used for monitoring the safety at sea,” he added.
Centino said the ship is at the shoal also “for us to assert our sovereign rights, considering that it is within our exclusive economic zone (EEZ).”
Zhao has said the Philippine government should honor a commitment to remove the Navy ship which was intentionally grounded in the area to serve as a military outpost.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had earlier dismissed the demand, adding he is not aware of a government commitment to remove the vessel from the shoal.
On November 16, two Chinese Coast Guard vessels blocked two Filipino supply boats delivering supplies to troops at the BRP Sierra Madre while a third one fired water cannons, forcing the boats to abort their mission and head back to mainland Palawan.
Foreign affairs and security officials have condemned the harassment, saying the Chinese should not be in the area because its within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile EEZ and the boats were merely delivering supplies.
The supply boats returned to the shoal a week later and successfully delivered the supplies although a Chinese Coast Guard vessel deployed a rubber boat with three personnel who took videos and pictures of the mission. Lorenzana described the act of the Chinese as a form of intimidation and harassment.
Centino said he does not consider the water cannoning incident as an armed attack, the main requirement to trigger the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between Philippines and United States.
The MDT requires the two nations to respond to any armed attack in the metropolitan territory of either parties or on the island territories or on armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.
“The act of using the water cannon against our vessel is not considered an armed attack. It could be a hostile act,” said Centino.
Centino also expressed doubts the Chinese will attack BRP Sierra Madre “because we have open communications with the Chinese government and see that this can be resolved, I mean incidents like this can be resolved peacefully.”
“We don’t see any remote possibility of Sierra Madre being attacked considering it is within the shoal, its shallow waters prevent ships from going in and one important thing is that we don’t really see that happening,” he said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said China’s continued encroachment in Philippine territory has an adverse impact not only on the country’s national security but also on food and economic security.
Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security chairman, said incursions have also kept the country from fully harnessing its energy resources in the West Philippine Sea, particularly the Philippine Rise, that is a potential source of natural gas and other resources such as heavy metals and metallic minerals.
“More often than not, we only think of national security when we hear of China’s encroachment into our territorial waters. It’s actually much more than that… It has a great effect not only on our national security because that much is obvious – but our food security and our economic security are greatly affected,” Lacson said at the hearing of the Senate foreign relations committee on proposed measure which will identify the country’s maritime zones.
Lacson also cited a US geological survey in 2013 showing there are some 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 25.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered resources in the Spratly Islands, while hydrocarbon reserve in Reed Bank is estimated at 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5.4 billion barrels of oil. The Philippine’s Department of Energy estimated 165 million barrels of oil and 3.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in Recto Bank. — With Raymond Africa
