‘US not escorting trips to Ayungin’

MANILA, Philippines — Despite increasing Chinese harassment of Philippine vessels, the country will continue resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal on its own, without outside help, according to a ranking official of the National Security Council.

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya also said the government is readying “some adjustments” in the resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty ship that serves as a Philippine military outpost on Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

Malaya declined to provide details, but there have been suggestions for the government to stop using privately owned wooden vessels, which are easily damaged by water cannons of the China Coast Guard (CCG), for the resupply missions.

He issued the statements as the government prepares for President Marcos’ trilateral meeting next week in Washington with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

While tensions in the South China Sea are on the agenda, Malaya ruled out the possibility of the Philippines seeking or accepting US escorts for Philippine missions to Ayungin despite constant Chinese harassment.

“We intend to keep this a Philippine mission manned by Philippine personnel using Philippine vessels,” Malaya told “Storycon” yesterday on One News.

“We will do this on our own. It is our exclusive economic zone. It is therefore the primary responsibility of the Philippine government’s and no one else’s,”  he stressed.

There are unconfirmed reports that the US offered to provide ship escorts for the resupply missions conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard, backed by the Philippine Navy, to Ayungin.

“We will have some adjustments in our resupply missions,” Malaya said, adding that the NSC has submitted recommendations for tweaking the missions.

Among the recommendations, he said, was the reorganization of the National Coast Watch Council into the National Maritime Council.

Malaya stressed that the PCG hired privately owned wooden vessels for the resupply missions precisely so that China would not construe it as a military provocation. Yet even the wooden vessels were constantly targeted by the CCG with water cannon bombardment.

He reiterated his challenge to