A maritime domain awareness (MDA) flight was conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) over Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal) several days after the removal of a floating barrier that prevented Filipino fishermen from accessing the resource-rich shoal, an official disclosed on Friday, Sept. 29.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS), said the MDA flight was held last Sept. 28 over Bajo de Masinloc which lasted for "more than an hour."

Through the MDA flight, the PCG confirmed that the floating barrier installed by China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese maritime militia (CMM) vessels at the southeast portion of Bajo de Masinloc has already been removed by the CCG.

"I would like to inform everyone that upon verification for this particular MDA flight, there is no more floating barrier at the entrance of Bajo de Masinloc," Tarriela told reporters at the PCG headquarters in Port Area, Manila. 

Tarriela also clarified that the PCG was not the one who removed the floating barrier, but the CCG themselves when they learned that the PCG managed to cut its anchor.

"The PCG or the Philippine government doesn’t claim that we are the ones who removed the barrier. What we did is we cut the anchor of the barrier. The reason why you have to cut the anchor of the barrier is because for each end of the floating barrier, there are two anchors, one at each end, so it would not be dragged by the current and the wind. What we did is we cut the anchor on one end so it will be widely open and dragged," he explained.

"When they (CCG) learned that the floating barrier is no longer serving its purpose, that’s the time that they recovered the floating barrier," he added.

When the PCG cut the anchor, Tarriela said a total of 54 Filipino fishing vessels took the opportunity to fish near Bajo de Masinloc and they were able to catch a total of 168 tons of fish.

Chinese presence

But Tarriela admitted that it remains a challenge for Filipino fishermen to enter the lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc as it is still heavily guarded by the CCG. 

In fact, the PCG and BFAR monitored three CCG ships and a CMM vessel at Bajo de Masinloc during the Sept. 28 MDA flight while the CCG also issued six radio challenges against them.

Two of the CCG ships were inside the lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc while the other one was patrolling outside the vicinity of the shoal.

There were also two Filipino fishing boats engaged in fishing activity near Bajo de Masinloc at the time of the MDA flight.

"I wouldn’t lie to you, it is still a struggle for the Filipino fishermen to enter the lagoon. As I said, as a result of our MDA flight, there are now two CCG vessels guarding the lagoon. So if the CCG would really push hard for our Filipino fishermen not to do fishing activities inside the lagoon, of course they can do that," Tarriela said.

But Tarriela noted that the PCG sees the removal of the floating barrier as a symbol of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s unwavering commitment to defend the country's territory.

"I think what the President did in giving us instruction to remove the barrier is to show the Filipno people and the world that the President is really sincere with his commitment that we are not going to surrender any square inch of our territory to any foreign power," Tarriela said, referring to Marcos' remark during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year.