The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) supported the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG) removal of a floating barrier installed by China in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal) which prevented Filipino fishermen from accessing the area.
Col. Medel Aguilar, AFP spokesperson, said the PCG only asserted the country's rights in Bajo de Masinloc when it cut the 300-meter-long floating barrier that was put up by China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese maritime militia (CMM) vessels at the southeast portion of the shoal.
"Dapat lang tanggalin 'yon kasi atin 'yon eh (It's only right that we remove it because that [Bajo de Masinloc] is ours)," Aguilar said.
"Basta inassert lang nating 'yong ating karapatan, hindi naman tayo dapat matakot (We only asserted our right, we have nothing to be afraid of)," he added.
As for the possible adverse reaction by China, Aguilar said: "Wala naman tayong pakialam kung anong reaction nila. Basta sa atin, atin (We don't care about their reaction. What's ours is ours)."
Special operation
PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said that the barrier was removed upon the instruction of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The PCG shared a video on social media of the "special operation" ordered by Marcos to the National Task Force for West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS).
In a separate television interview with ANC, Tarriela gave specific details of the operation.
He said Marcos called National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año and told him to "carry whatever means possible" for the PCG to remove the floating barrier.
"So upon the instruction of the President, the NSA called up the [PCG] Commandant, Admiral Artemio Abu, and gave a specific instruction to do a special operation. As you know, there are four China Coast Guard vessels guarding Bajo de Masinloc so it should be very discrete, it should be an operation that is not obvious," Tarriela said.
He said a PCG personnel had to disguise himself as an ordinary fisherman and board a fishing boat to get to the area where the barrier was installed. The PCG personnel then dived and cut the anchor of the barrier so it would float and be carried by the waves.
Tarriela admitted that the operation was "very dangerous" since CCG vessels are armed with water cannons and if ever they spotted the PCG personnel, anything could go wrong.
The special operation, however, went successful as the PCG was able to take the anchor of the barrier, and left its remaining parts floating in the area.
"Upon checking with our intelligence operatives in Bajo de Masinloc, the Chinese government also removed already the barrier," Tarriela said.
Citing accounts from Filipino fishermen, Tarriela revealed that this was not the first time CCG vessels installed a floating barrier in Bajo de Masinloc.
This, however, was the first time the PCG witnessed such move from the CCG and acted on it.
Bajo de Masinloc is located at 120 nautical miles from Zambales, well within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines.
The Philippine government used to administer Bajo de Masinloc as part of Zambales province until in 2012 where a standoff between the Philippine Navy and Chinese vessels led to the seizure of the shoal by China.
Tarriela said this resulted to Filipino fishermen being barred from entering the lagoon, which is believed to be rich in marine resources and which hsa been their traditional fishing ground for centuries already.
"Since we lost the ability to dominate the presence of CCG in Bajo de Masinloc since 2012, the Filipino fishermen, regardless of who the administration is, whether [Benigno] Aquino [III], [Rodrigo] Duterte, or even the current administration, we're not able to enter the lagoon," he said.
"Right after the 2012 incident, the only area that they can fishin [is] within the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc but not inside the lagoon," he stated.
"I could tell that there are no Vietnamese fising there, and there are also no Filipino fishermen there. The only national that we can find [at] the lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc are all Chinese," he continued.
A ruling released by the Arbitral Tribunal in 2016, which decided on the cases filed by the Philippine government against China's claims in the South China Sea, concluded that Bajo de Masinloc has been a traditional fishing ground of Filipino fishermen for centuries already.
To protect Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc, Tarriela said PCG vessels will be deployed in the area to conduct patrol operation together with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and intelligence support from the AFP as they aim to "take back" Bajo de Masinloc from China's control.
"We have already strategized how we can we [be] able to take control of Bajo de Masinloc especially the lagoon inside. We were able to calibrate our deployment until such time that we can already anchor at a distance of 300 meters. This will be sustained in the next coming days," he said.