Two days after the June 17 rotation and reprovision (RORE) mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, details of the botched operation have finally come to light which explained why China Coast Guard (CCG) personnel, who were supposed to be civilian in nature, managed to overpower military troops from the Philippine Navy (PN).
During his visit to the headquarters of the Western Command (Wescom) in Palawan on Wednesday, June 19, General Romeo Brawner Jr., Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), revealed that the PN troops who were onboard the supply boats during the resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal were actually “unarmed” while the CCG personnel had bolo (wide-curved bladed weapon), machete, knives, spears and other weapons.
The tension began at 5:59 a.m. on June 17. At the time, the AFP had deployed six vessels composed of two rigid hull inflatable boats, a civilian vessel ML Lapulapu, and escort ships to bring food and other provisions to troops manning the BRP Sierra Madre (LS57) outpost in Ayungin Shoal.
However, they were overpowered by combined forces from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), CCG, and Chinese maritime militia (CMM). Rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) were dispatched by the CCG which, at a high speed, intentionally rammed the rubber boats from the AFP, Brawner said.
One of the rubber boats was boarded by Seaman First Class Underwater Operator Jeffrey Facundo, a member of the PN’s Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG). Due to the impact of the collision of his boat with a CCG RHIB, his right thumb was cut off.
Facundo was rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in an emergency medical evacuation. On Wednesday, he received a wounded personnel medal from Brawner.
Asked by Brawner if he is willing to go back to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to serve, Facundo replied: "Yes, sir."
The PN clarified that there was only one injured personnel during the mission, that is Facundo, contradicting earlier reports that were eight troopers who got wounded.
‘Looters’
Further, Brawner said that CCG personnel from the Chinese RHIBs also pinned another boat of the AFP and illegally boarded it. The CCG personnel ransacked the Filipino soldiers’ belongings. They pointed their bladed weapons towards the unarmed AFP troops and started looting.
“This is the first time na nakitaan natin ‘yung China Coast Guard na nagdala ng mga bolo, ng mga sibat, ng mga kutsilyo. On the other hand, ‘yung tropa natin wala tayong dala na mga ganoon (This is the first that we saw the China Coast Guard armed with bolo, spears, and knives. On the other hand, our troops had no weapons like that),” Brawner said.
The firearms of the AFP personnel were actually stuffed inside the troops’ gun cases along with the food and other supplies, which meant they only had their bare hands to defend themselves from the CCG who embarked their boats.
Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres, commander of the Wescom, said one of his directives to the troops who participated in the RORE mission was to refrain from brandishing their weapons throughout the mission so as to avoid tension. This explained why the troops were “unarmed” at the time of the mission.
“One of our guidance when it comes to the conduct of RORE is that, no firearms will be handled or shown by our personnel to the China Coast Guard personnel. We are doing that to avoid misperception that we are conducting an armed operation, so the firearms were looted actually and they were disassembled,” Torres said.
Brawner commended the troops who did not hesitate to risk their lives to protect the supplies from the armed CCG personnel.
“Mayroon po kaming videos na hawak (We retrieved video footages), we saw in the video how the Chinese even threatened our personnel by pointing their knives at our personnel. Despite this, lumaban po ang ating mga sundalo with their bare hands (our soldiers fought with their bare hands),” Brawner said.
“They were preventing the China Coast Guard from hitting them with their bolos and machete and other bladed weapons. Kaya ako po ay hangang-hanga sa ating mga sundalo (That is why I am really in awe of our soldiers). Despite the absence of weapons or certain items to defend themselves ay lumaban pa rin po sila (they still fought),” he added.
“Gusto ko po tanggalin ‘yung impression na ‘yung sundalo natin ay hinayaan lang yung CCG na kunin lang ang ating kagamitan (I want to erase the impression that our soldiers allowed the CCG to seize our things),” he noted.
‘This is piracy’
But in the end, Brawner and Torres admitted that the CCG illegally obtained seven Colt automatic rifles from the PN troops, the soldiers' personal cellphones, as well as motor and engines of the boats, and destroyed some communication equipment and other navigational equipment onboard.
The CCG also managed to sail close to BRP Sierra Madre and deliberately punctured other boats attached to the World War II-era warship, they said.
Brawner admitted that the AFP forces were outnumbered by the Chinese forces during the mission. There were two RHIBs on the side of the AFP and eight RHIBs on the side of CCG, as well as several Chinese steel-hulled boats.
“Hangang-hanga ako sa sundalong Pilipino, sa ating mandirigma, mandaragat pati na rin sa [Philippine] Coast Guard (I really admire Filipino soldiers, sailors, as well as the Philippine Coast Guard] because of the restraint that they practiced. Napakalapit po ng pinangyarihan nito sa LS-57 (The incident happened really close to LS-57) and as we all know, LS-57 is also armed but we did not use those because our objective is that while we want to bring supplies to our troops following international laws, our objective is also to prevent war,” the AFP chief emphasized.
At present, Brawner said that the AFP has already demanded the CCG to return the troops’ guns.
“We are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment. We are also demanding from them to pay for the damages that they have caused. Babayaran po nila iyon dahil hindi po tayo papayag na sisirain nila ang ating mga kagamitan at kunin lang nila (They shall pay for it because we will not allow them to just destroy our things and seize them),” he said.
“For me, this is piracy already. Parang mga pirate na sila sa ginawa nilang actions (They acted like pirates),” the AFP chief stressed.