Chinese maritime militia and coast guard vessels that were spotted earlier in Ayungin and Sabina Shoals are still inside the country’s maritime domain, the Philippine Coast Guard said on Saturday.
\PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said based on a recent maritime domain awareness flight, at least 30 Chinese. maritime militia vessels and one Chinese Coast Guard vessel were seen in the two areas in the West Philippine Sea.
“I can confirm that there’s still Chinese maritime militia and China Coast Guard vessels in Ayungin and Sabina Shoals,” Tarriela said.
He said it is now up to the Department of Foreign Affairs to decide on whether to lodge another diplomatic protest over the presence of Chinese vessels inside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Beijing claims nearly the entire South China Sea and has refused to acknowledged a 2016 arbitral ruling invalidating ita nine-dash-line maritime claim.
Tarriela said thw PCG will continue to strengthen its presence in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as part of the Marcos administration’s commitment to protect the country’s territory.
“Then and now, the Philippine Coast Guard has intensified our presence in the West Philippine Sea, with the guidance of our President,” he said.
“We still have that commitment that we are going to comply with the directive of our President that no square inch of our territory will be surrendered to any foreign powers,” he added.
During the MDA flight, the PCG aircraft received “inaudible” English radio challenges from Chinese Coast Guard vessel CCG-5304, prompting the PCG to issue a radio challenge.
Earlier this month, a CCG vessel on Feb. 6 “shadowed” and pointed a military-grade laser toward the PCG patrol vessel BRP Malapascua, temporarily blinding some of its crew
“All the incidents that are happening right now, we are making it publicly available. That’s why there is awareness among the Filipino people, among the media practitioners. And the international community is also aware of what the Chinese has been doing in the past weeks,” Tarriela said.
“With all those occurrences of bullying behavior, harassment of Filipino fishermen, the Philippine Coast Guard can document. Once we publicize it, we are expecting that the Chinese will react.”