The deliberate grounding of the BRP Sierra Madre in the contested Ayungin Shoal showed that the country “can stand up to China” and not be bullied, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said.
Trillanes said that the Philippine Navy “deliberately ran BRP Sierra Madre aground in Ayungin Shoal in 1999".
“That patriotic and heroic act was in response to China’s occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995. It showed that PH can stand up to China without going to war,” Trillanes wrote on Facebook on Friday, Nov. 26.
The former Navy officer was referring to the Chinese occupation of the low-tide elevation in the Spratly Islands between 1994 and 1995, which the Philippines protested. This caused raised tensions in the region.
Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the reef, which is inside the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Trillanes’ remark came amid an incident in Ayungin Shoal wherein three China Coast Guard vessels bullied Philippine patrol boats on a mission to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre, where Filipino troops are stationed.
Although the resupply mission was successfully carried out a week after the Nov. 16 incident, this was only because of “humanitarian considerations”, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Beijing said it wants the Philippines “to honor its commitment” of removing the grounded ship there, but Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has said there was no such commitment.
READ: Lorenzana rejects China's demand for PH to remove ship at Ayungin Shoal
China’s aggressive stance in the region has raised tensions with claimant countries, particularly the Philippines, with Manila winning a landmark 2016 Arbitral Award that invalidated the basis of China’s historic claims over the region.
President Duterte, however, has a softened stance against China, repeatedly claiming that Manila “cannot afford to go to war” with Beijing despite Indonesia standing up to the regional power and not being forced into a war.
Trillanes, for his part, had earlier said that the United States (US) should “step in.”
READ: US should ‘step in’ as China asserts claim on Ayungin Shoal–Trillanes