A CHINESE Coast Guard (CCG) ship made dangerous maneuvers against a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel in Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, early this month during a route patrol.
The incident was reported by the PCG only yesterday because it was only yesterday that officials approved the release of the information, said PCG spokesman Commodore Armand Balilo.
The PCG’s BRP Malabrigo was conducting maritime patrol last March 2 in the Scarborough area when the Chinese vessel with bow number 3305, conducted “close distance maneuvering over an area of approximately 21 yards (19.2 m) in the direction of Philippine vessel BRP Malabrigo.
“This constrained the maneuvering space of BRP Malabrigo – a clear violation of the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS),” the PCG said.
It was the fourth time since last year the CCG committed such an act against Philippine vessels vessels in the Scarborough Shoal. The first was against a PCG-manned vessel of the Bureau of Fishery and Aquatic Resources on May 19. The two other incidents involved the PCG’s BRP Capones and BRP Sindangan on June 1 and June 2. Both vessels were on capability enhancement exercises at that time.
“The behavior of the involved CCG vessels increased the risk of collision with four of our capital ships,” said PCG commandant Adm. Artemio Abu, referring to the four incidents.
Abu said the PCG has coordinated the latest incident with the National Task Force for West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) and to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) “to address this issue through rules-based and peaceful approaches.”
Abu said the incident will not deter the PCG from conducting similar operations in the area.
“We are fully aware of dangerous situations at sea, but these will not stop our deployment of assets and personnel in Bajo de Masinloc, Philippine Rise, and other parts of the country’s exclusive economic zones,” said Abu.
“We will continue to work silently and diligently for we are serving Filipino fishermen at sea. As long as they feel safe seeing us during their fishing operations, we know that we are doing our job well,” added Abu.
Balilo would not say if the incident is a form of harassment by the Chinese, stressing. “To us (PCG), we treat that as dangerous maneuvers, that’s we are trying to point out,” he said.
Balilo said no other untoward incident was reported between the vessels from both sides last March 2.
Balilo declined to speculate as to motive of the Chinese in making the dangerous maneuvers.
Balilo would not say of BRP Malibrigo was still in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal as of yesterday.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China lays claim to most of the waters within a so-called Nine Dash Line in the South China Sea, which is also contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. — With Reuters
