The calculated collision was purposely done to prevent us from delivering our supplies to our navy personnel manning the hand-me-down surplus from the US navy
Quite strange is the report made by an American security expert by the name of Raymond Powell.
Through tweeter, he alleged that China’s coast guard, on August 8, 2023, fired water cannon at our coast guard vessel.
The incident was repeated on October 22 when the Philippine vessel was monitored stealthily moving towards the Chinese coast then stationed to secure the floating rafters they place around the shoal.
Yes, there was a somewhat intended collision because China’s coast guard wanted to prevent our fishing boat from crossing the rafters.
The Chinese coast guard knew our fishing boat wanted to cross to deliver supply to our personnel manning our purposely grounded BRP Sierra Madre stationed inside the contested Shoal.
Both vessels suffered a negligible dent as the purpose was only to merely prevent the Philippine fishing boat from crossing the rafters.
The calculated collision was purposely done to prevent us from delivering our supplies to our navy personnel manning the hand-me-down surplus from the US navy.
Nonetheless, it caused a slight dent to our fishing boat.
The US navy tried to make an issue of the incident in that there was reconnaissance spy plane from the US navy watching the incident as it happened.
The purpose of the Australian-based spy agency was to monitor any unfavorable incident in the area and make sure to immediately report the incident to the media.
Our vessel was out to resupply our navy personnel guarding the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in the Ayungin Shoal or Scarborough Shoal since 1999.
I remember China’s former ambassador to the Philippines, Madame Fu Ying, argued with the Philippine media by exhibiting a Philippine-made map indicating that Scarborough Shoal as belonging to China.
The ambassador claims Scarborough Shoal known in China as “Huangyan Shoal” is submerged during high tide, which reason why the International Arbitration Court ruled that no state can establish sovereignty over a piece of rock or establish boundary line of 200-mile exclusive economic zone just to expand further China’s EEZ which is separated by a great body of water in the South China Sea.
Awarding the whole of SCS will render the concept of freedom of navigation meaningless.
The Ayungin Shoal is beyond the 200-mile EEZ of China from its own coastline.
The same can be said of the Scarborough Shoal.
The area is not within the 200-mile EEZ from the Philippines from the Orani town in Bataan.
China, on the other hand, rather based its claims as historic right aptly named as “Nine-Dash Line” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
(Editor’s Note: Beginning in 1952, the People’s Republic of China used a revised map with nine dashes, removing the two dashes in the Gulf of Tonkin.
(In September this year, China unveiled its 2023 standard map with a ten-dash line – an updated version of its nine-dash line used to make territorial claims in the South China Sea which sparked outrage among China’s neighbors.
(The nine-dash line already covers more than 90 percent of the SCS, but the new edition features an additional dash located east of Taiwan, seemingly extending China’s territorial claims in the region.)
Only China and Taiwan commonly agreed on this claim of historic right, which if one may say is self-serving, as it serves only the interest of the two countries.
The Philippines is objecting in allowing China to expand another 200 miles, for that would unduly destroy the purpose and objective of the EEZ.
The US legally remains a non-claimant to any of the islands in the SCS.
Legally, the US and the Philippines are estopped from claiming as parties to any of the islands.
Our concurrence of the treaty signed by the US and Spain means the US relinquished our sovereignty over all those islands and territories after it signed the treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, except for that minor amendment granting a narrow passage to international shipping in the Sibutu Strait in Mindanao.
Despite the proximity of the boundary that separates the Philippines from the island of Palawan which now constitutes part of the SCS, with the edges of the boundary of less than 12 miles under international law, the Philippines can exercise legitimate sovereignty and enjoy indisputable right over the area. Read full article on manilastandard.net
In 1950, a certain Tomas Cloma, a Filipino navigator claimed to have discovered a group of islands.
He called the islands “freedom island.”
Much later, when President Marcos realized that Cloma wanted to own the islands as his private property, he issued PD 1529 declaring the so-called Freedom Islands of Cloma shall form part of the Municipality of Kalayaan in the province of Palawan, it being the closest province.
The islands cannot be classified as “res nullius” or not owned by anybody.
Long before the Spaniards and the Americans came, the Chinese have long been sailing into these islands. Although no formal claim of ownership or title was established.
Our claim in some of the disputed islands in the SCS was on the basis that that the area constitutes a rich fishing ground for claiming that the area has long been considered as our historic fishing ground for our fishermen.
But never can the country claim that Ayungin Island is part of the Philippine archipelago.
In fact, before the US withdrew their naval base in Zambales, the area was part of its base in Subic and had been used for their aerial target practice or bombing run.
When the US withdrew their base at Subic, Scarborough was altogether forgotten and abandoned.
To fully understand the history behind the conflicting claims, it is imperative to know what this Ayungin Shoal is and to recall chronological events.
Hence, “Second Thomas Shoal, also known as Ayungin Shoal is an atoll in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, 194 km west of Palawan.
Claimed by several nations but exclusively located in the economic zone of the Philippines, the atoll is currently militarily occupied by several countries.
Located south-east of the Mischief Reef(09°55′N 115°32′E), Second Thomas Shoal is near the center of Dangerous Ground in the northeastern part of the Spratly Islands; there are no settlements north or east of it.
It is a tear-drop shaped atoll, 20 km long north–south and fringed with coral reefs.
The coral rim surrounds a lagoon which has depths of up to 27 meters and is accessible to small boats from the east. Drying patches are found east and west of the reef rim.
On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that ‘Second Thomas Shoal is, or in its natural condition was, exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide and, accordingly, has low-tide elevations that do not generate an entitlement to a territorial sea, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf’.
Second, Thomas Shoal is claimed by the Philippines and China.
The Philippine navy maintains a presence of less than a dozen navy personnel on the 100 meter- long WWII-built landing ship BRP Sierra Madre, deliberately made to run aground the atoll in 1999 in response to the Chinese reclamation of Mischief Reef.
The Philippines claims the atoll is part of its continental shelf, while parts of the Spratly group of islands, where Second Thomas Shoal lies, are claimed by China, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
In 2014, the Chinese government asked the Philippines to remove the grounded ship.
Philippine supply ships subsequently avoided Chinese blockades.
Chinese coast guard vessels blocked the two attempts to resupply the garrison on March 9, 2014.
Supplies were airdropped to the garrison three days later.
A supply ship with replacement troops successfully reached the atoll on March 29, 2014 by sailing through shallow waters where the PRC vessels, having deeper drafts, were unable to follow.
During the approach, Philippine crew members and troops on the resupply ship waved the peace sign at the pursuing Chinese coast guard crew.
Since then, the Philippine military has been sending monthly relief missions in the form of air-dropped provisions to the troops stationed in the shoal.
This explains why PBBM considers the incident as a grey area indicating that either the West wants him to remain ignorant of the situation and promote a proxy war in the South China Sea.
Many Filipinos to this day are wondering why our territorial waters in the South China Sea have been demarcated too close to Palawan that they even violated our 12-mile territorial waters where our oil and natural gas are found and where service contracts have been awarded to private companies.
Instead of antagonizing China, the Philippines should seek better relations with China by examining what economic gains we could obtain by improving our relationship with China over the Scarborough like exploring oil and natural gas the area similar to what Vietnam did in developing the Paracel Islands; revitalizing some of the promised investments made by China in Mindanao.
Vietnam extended peace offering to cultivate economic and developmental projects which it hopes could enhance their own security while Malaysia is mainly concentrating to mind its own business, knowing its position is the most tenuous among the claimant countries in the South China Sea like extending the country’s rail system to the South.
We should instead befriend China to help us rebuild our fertilizer plant to promote our agriculture, and so with the promotion of our fishing industry.
The Philippines should promote an increased Asian economic and free trade integration to be assured in the export of our fruits in that country. (rpkapunan@gmail.com)
