Two Chinese ships have been conducting surveillance operations on Recto (Reed) Bank in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) for at least a week now without prior coordination from the government, the Philippine Navy (PN) confirmed.
(Philippine Navy / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, PN Flag Officer in Command, said he would submit an official report to the Department of National Defense (DND) for the filing of a diplomatic protest against the Chinese government through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
"It has come to my attention the presence of two Chinese surveillance vessels on Recto Bank," he said in an online forum Monday.
Bacordo said the two ships were travelling at an almost stationary speed of three knots.
"We can only do that if they are conducting surveys. We have reported this already and we have checked if they have any clearance to conduct survey in the area and we found out that there is none," he said.
In a separate message to reporters on Tuesday, Bacordo said one of the ships has already left as of August 9.
"Parang ang isa, aalis tapos ang isa naman ang nag-takeover (It appears that one of the ships took over when the other one left)," he said.
The Navy Chief protested the Chinese vessels' apparent intrusion in the Philippine-claimed area which he said is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
"For UNCLOS, surveys should have the clearance from the coastal state," he explained.
As part of protocols, the Navy should challenge the authority of the foreign vessel conducting surveillance operations.
However, Bacordo said he has yet to determine if the area commander, the Western Command, already sent a ship to challenge the Chinese survey ships.
"The sending of our navy ship is an option but then again, I will leave that to the area commander, to the operational commander of Western Command," he said.
China has been claiming Recto Bank but a 2016 tribunal ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague, The Netherlands dismissed the claims of Beijing, giving the Philippines the legal right to exercise sovereign rights in the hotly contested waters.