THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has dispatched another vessel to monitor the presence of China Coast Guard (CCG) ships off the coast of Zambales.
“Right now, BRP Bagacay is patrolling the waters within the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc and to monitor whether there will be another CCG vessel that will attempt to go near the coastline of Zambales this afternoon,” PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a Zoom briefing.
Over the weekend, Tarriela reported that a CCG vessel was spotted between five to 18 nautical miles from Palauig Point in Zambales—an area well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). He said the vessel has gone further away from Zambales.
“I would like to believe that it returned to the vicinity ng Bajo de Masinloc. I would say it has the distance of somewhere between 115 to 120 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales,” Tarriela said.
The PCG earlier deployed the Multi-Role Response Vessel (MRRV-4409) BRP Cabra to challenge the presence of the CCG vessel. However, the BRP Cabra was prompted to leave the area after responding to a distress call from a Filipino fishing vessel.
According to Tarriela, the CCG did not respond to the BRP Cabra’s radio challenge.
He added that the CCG typically justifies its actions by claiming they are part of legitimate maritime law enforcement operations.
“That is why we are challenging them. We are reminding them that they are inside our own EEZ and that they do not have legitimate authority to conduct such illegal patrol,” Tarriela said.
“If they don’t respond, I don’t think we can hold them accountable for not responding. But definitely, we are challenging their illegal presence dito sa ating EEZ and that they never informed us of their intention why they are there and what is the purpose of their presence,” he added.
The Philippines has already filed over 150 diplomatic protests against China regarding the territorial dispute under the Marcos administration.
