Navy to increase sea, air patrols in West Philippine Sea

MANILA, Philippines — As the Philippine Coast Guard takes stock of last Monday’s run-in with the Chinese around Escoda (Sabina) Shoal that left two PCG vessels damaged, the Philippine Navy has increased its patrols in the West Philippine Sea and vowed no letup in supply missions to isolated outposts.

“Rest assured that we have increased our presence through sea patrols and air surveillance flights all over the vast expanse of our nine features in the WPS,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said at a press briefing yesterday.

Before dawn on Monday, Chinese coast guard (CCG) ships rammed the BRP Bagacay and the BRP Cape Engaño within minutes of each other after engaging them in dangerous manuevers in the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, which is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Trinidad said the Philippine Navy also conducts regular rotation and resupply (RORE) missions to Patag and Lawak islands and other areas in coordination with the PCG, under the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Naval Forces West.

He said that while Escoda Shoal “is not a new flashpoint,” the presence of the CCG, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and maritime militia vessels (MMVs) in the area is illegal and their “actions are coercive and aggressive, their messages are deceptive.”

He also said the Philippine Navy “has a deployment plan that is now focusing on the EEZ based on the CADC (Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept) of the Department of National Defense.”

“Meaning to say, we are now more capable, we are now focusing the deployment of our capital ships to cover the vast expanse of the EEZ,” he pointed out. “We should focus on the bigger picture of the vast expanse of the South China Sea, a portion of which is the WPS. Again, the presence of the agents of aggression of the Chinese Communist Party is causing all of the dynamics, all of the aggressive maneuvers in the WPS,” Trinidad said when asked if tensions have shifted from Ayungin Shoal to Escoda Shoal.

“This may shift from Ayungin Shoal to the eight other features to Bajo de Masinloc,” he said, referring to the Panatag Shoal by its