President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the acquisition of additional vessels from Japan and France, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said the Philippines will enhance its coast guard fleet with five additional 97-meter vessels from Japan and 40 more vessels from France.
“This information is an open book that the PCG would require more assets for us to safeguard our maritime rights, not just in the WPS, but for our entire maritime jurisdiction as an archipelagic country,” Tarriela said.
Mr. Marcos on Thursday said the Philippines “does not have the means to force out” China’s “monster ship” – China Coast Guard 5901 – even as the government would continue to defend its maritime region amid limited military resources.
“It’s not like we have an aircraft carrier with a destroyer, frigate, and submarine to push them away. We don’t have that,” the President said.
On Friday, Tarriela said the so-called “monster ship” was back in waters near Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Panatag Shoal.
He said two CCG vessels were also seen in Bajo de Masinloc, while three others were positioned off the coast of Zambales.
“Well, right now, CCG 3304 and CCG 5901 swapped again. CCG 5901 is once again back in the vicinity of Bajo De Masinloc at a distance of 120 nautical miles,” Tarriela said.
“CCG 3304 is the one trying to replace 5901 as it maintained [China’s] illegal presence off the coast of Zambales at a distance of 105 nautical miles,” he added.
Mr. Marcos said the country’s policy remains firm—that of defending the nation’s sovereign territory and rights within the exclusive economic zone.
“Our Coast Guard and Navy’s mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the Philippines. They will continue to do that no matter what any other foreign power does,” he said.
“We will always be there…making sure our fishermen are able to exercise their sovereign rights. That’s their mission,” he added.