‘Monster’ CCG ship spotted near Ayungin

MANILA, Philippines — The world’s largest coast guard ship owned by China was spotted yesterday cruising near Ayungin Shoal, where the Philippines maintains a small military outpost on the beached BRP Sierra Madre.

Also called “The Monster,” the 12,000-ton China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel with bow number 5901 “passed close by the Philippines’ outpost aboard the BRP Sierra Madre at 2nd Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal,” wrote maritime defense and security expert Ray Powell on his X account.

He also posted an image of the movement of the ship as tracked by satellite. The ship was reportedly cruising at 18 knots when spotted at around 9 a.m. yesterday.

The ship, which is 165 meters long and 22 meters wide, was “now headed north,” Powell said on his post.

In June, Powell also monitored the ship “approaching Thitu (Pag-asa) Island.” The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has yet to confirm the sailing of “The Monster.”

The massive CCG ship was also spotted near Panatag Shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc, amid reports of pipe-laying works by the Chinese.

In a post on X on Sunday, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela again reminded the Chinese that they have no reason to feel concerned about the continued presence of the Sierra Madre in Ayungin, as the vessel is located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

He wrote on X that China “still hasn’t realized that the Philippines has sovereign rights over Ayungin Shoal.” He was reacting to the Chinese foreign ministry’s expressing concern over an article in the Financial Times that says the Philippines “secretly reinforces ship at center of South China Sea dispute.”

“Regardless of what we bring on board an active commissioned Philippine Navy vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre is not their concern. It’s impossible for us to violate PRC’s sovereignty when these waters don’t even legally belong to them,” Tarriela added.

Ayungin Shoal is 194 kilometers away from Palawan and more than a thousand kilometers from China’s nearest landmass.

Meanwhile, a fishers’ group yesterday bewailed the CCG’s intensified harassment of Filipino fishers in Panatag Shoal,

with China vessels spotted 30 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales.

In a radio interview, New Masinloc Fishermen Association president Leanardo Cuaresma said the fishers can only operate between 20 and 30 nautical miles from the seashore of Zambales as CCG vessels were surrounding the shoal.

“Chinese ships are conducting patrol at a distance of 30 nautical miles from the seashore. We can see them,” he said.

China said it has been enforcing a fishing ban for weeks, and that its coast guard are under instructions to detain foreign “trespassers” in its territorial waters. China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea.

“At present, no fisherfolk go to Bajo de Masinloc as the operation of the Chinese Coast Guard has intensified,” Cuaresma said.

“Before there were at least 50 fishers operating in Bajo de Masinloc but because it is dangerous to go there because of the harassment being experienced not only by our fishermen but also the Philippine Coast Guard, Panatag fishermen do not go there,” he pointed out. — Bella Cariaso