Military steps up naval, air patrols in Escoda Shoal

MANILA, Philippines — Intensified air and naval patrols are being readied in Escoda Shoal in support of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua, which got rammed repeatedly by Chinese vessels last Saturday just days after it figured in similar incidents also involving the Chinese.

Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad made the pronouncement yesterday, as the Chinese appeared to have increased their presence in the area, which is indisputably within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

But he clarified that a stepped-up patrol does not necessarily involve deploying more assets to the area.

“She’s alone (Teresa Magbanua). We’re watching over the area because of reports on piled-up crushed corals. We want to make sure it’s not man-made, so that’s why we’re there,” Trinidad said over radio dzBB.

“So far the Coast Guard is there. The Navy and the Air Force have increased their patrols – by air and sea,” he added.

A stepped-up patrol, he said, “could be done by one ship, this could be done by an aircraft, this could be done by fishermen reporting to us, so it’s not about who has a bigger number of ships in Sabina or Escoda,” he said.

As of Sunday, there were three China Coast Guard (CCG), two People’s Liberation Army Navy and 47 maritime militia, one hospital and research vessels monitored around Escoda Shoal.

Manila has communicated to Beijing its “complaint and displeasure” over last Saturday’s ramming incident in Escoda Shoal.

“We have made the necessary approaches to China in terms of contacting them through various means to express our complaint and displeasure at what happened. And not only that, our concern about raising tensions over what was basically just innocent movement by a Philippine vessel,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a chance interview yesterday at Malacañang.

“They (China) have accused us, as usual, of doing this and that, but obviously it was just their doing... We were just moving, and we were surprised by this incident,” he added.

In a statement released by the Chinese embassy last Saturday, China’s coast guard claimed that Teresa Magbanua was the one that deliberately collided with a Chinese ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner.” The Philippine ship, the Chinese coast guard added, was “illegally stranded in China’s Xianbin Reef (Escoda Shoal), lifted anchor and continued to maneuver and cause trouble.”

“Well, we’re contemplating, at the moment, possible approaches to this issue. And I think maybe in the coming days or weeks, we’ll probably have a better picture of where we’re headed for this,” Manalo said when asked what legal action Manila would take next. “But certainly, it (incident) doesn’t help the situation,” the department chief added. — Alexis Romero