An “unidentified floating object” was seen drifting about 800 yards off Pagasa Island in Palawan on Sunday morning, Nov. 20, which was apparently seized by the China Coast Guard (CCG).
The Western Command (WESCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the object was spotted by personnel of the Naval Station Emilio Liwanag (NSEL) around 6:45 a.m.
“They immediately proceeded to the area for ocular inspection. As observed by the team while enroute, the object was drifting towards Pagasa Island Cay 1 sand bar due to strong waves and currents,” Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, commander of WESCOM, said on Monday, Nov. 21.
The object was a metallic debris that was similar to a Chinese rocket debris found in Buswanga, Palawan last Nov. 7.
The soldiers retrieved the object and tied it securely to their rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) to tow it back to NSEL. However, a CCG vessel with bow number 5203 approached the Filipino soldiers and blocked their pre-plotted course twice, Carlos said.
The CCG vessel deployed its own RHIB and “forcefully retrieved” the floating object from the Filipino soldiers by cutting the towing line attached to the NSEL rubber boat. The object was then towed to the CCG vessel by their RHIB.
Carlos said there was no heated confrontation between the two forces as the NSEL team decided to return to Pagasa Island. The incident lasted for about an hour.
“No member of the NSEL Team was injured during this incident,” he added.
The incident has since been reported to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) which will decided whether or not the national government will deem it as a form of harassment that will warrant the filing of a diplomatic protest, according to Maj. Cherryl Tindog, spokesperson of WESCOM.
“Maximum tolerance naman tayo sa ganoon eh. Since it’s an unidentified object and not a matter of life and death, nagdecide na lang ‘yung team na bumalik sa NSEL (We are implementing maximum tolerance in cases like that. Since it’s an unidentified object and not a matter of life and death, the team decided to go back to NSEL),” she said.
In a separate statement of Kalayaan, the local government unit (LGU) which has jurisdiction over Pagasa Island, acting Mayor Beltzasar Alindogan urged residents to be vigilant and prepared for similar scenarios in the future.
“Sa kasalukuyan, business as usual na muli ang sitwasyon sa Barangay Pagasa, Kalayaan (At present, it is business as usual in Barangay Pagasa, Kalayaan),” Alindogan said.
The sighting happened hours before the arrival of United States Vice Pres. Kamala Harris in the country.
Harris, who arrived around 6:50 p.m. Sunday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City, will visit Palawan as a sign of United States’ commitment to uphold a rules-based international maritime order in the South China Sea.
Pagasa Island is one of the nine features in Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly Islands) in Palawan that is being occupied by the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). It is equipped with an airstrip, and a small community resides there while military personnel are deployed to ensure their security.
However, the island is also being claimed by China along with other features in the vast South China Sea. They call Pagasa Island as Zhongye Dao, which they said was part of their territory if their nine-dash line historical claim is to be based.
China’s position was already debunked by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, saying that they have no legal basis to make sweeping claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese government rejected the arbitrational ruling.