The military conducted an airdrop resupply mission for troops stationed in Ayungin Shoal on Tuesday.
A senior military official in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed the success of the resupply mission and said only one aircraft was used in the operation.
On Monday, the AFP announced that the resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre had been postponed because one of the indigenous boats used for the purpose, Unaiza Mae 1, experienced “technical difficulty.”
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 to serve as an outpost for Philippine sovereignty. It is manned by more than a dozen Marines and sailors.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have heightened in recent months as both sides trade accusations over a series of incidents in the South China Sea, a portion of which is being called West Philippine Sea by Manila.
Meanwhile, the Philippines and Vietnam will sign an agreement to strengthen the existing maritime cooperation between the two countries in Southeast Asia.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson, Rear Admiral Armand Balilo on Tuesday confirmed that the agreement would be signed during President Marcos’ state visit to Hanoi next week.
“We just discussed the proposed (memorandum of agreement) with the Vietnam Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu during his visit at the PCG HQ this morning,” Balilo said.
In August of last year, President Marcos said that the Philippines was looking forward to signing an agreement with Vietnam to further strengthen its maritime cooperation in the West Philippine Sea.
In other developments:
* The AFP is planning to hold more naval patrols in Bajo de Masinloc (also known as Scarborough Shoal) following China’s latest harassment of Filipino fishermen there. “For the Philippine Navy (PN) since our internal security operations are dwindling, then we can allocate more resources for our external defense. So we’ll have more assets of our Navy circling around the area,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said in an interview with CNN Philippines. On Jan. 12, five Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) personnel aboard a rubber boat accosted a group of Filipino fishers from the fishing boat, F/B “Legendary Jo” gathering seashells at the south entrance of Bajo de Masinloc. The CCG personnel reportedly forced these fishermen to throw away the sea shells they had collected before allowing them to leave.
* Senator Jinggoy Estrada moved for a Senate investigation into an alleged foreign state-sponsored disinformation campaign on the WPS dispute, undermining the country’s historic victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In filing Senate Resolution No. 910, Estrada urged the Senate committee on public information and mass media to take the lead in conducting an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the propagation of false and unfounded narratives about the illegal activities and foreign encroachment within Philippine waters.
China claims most of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
An international tribunal in 2016 invalidated China’s claim in a ruling on a case brought by the Philippines, but Beijing refuses to recognize the decision.
The Philippines includes areas of the South China Sea that falls within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as part of the West Philippine Sea.