Two China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were spotted operating in Philippine waters on Thursday, July 25, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said, bringing to life memes showing Chinese vessels in floodwaters brought by Typhoon “Carina”.
The PCG’s dark vessel detection technology monitored the Shucha II-class CCG vessel with bow number “3301” at approximately 62.08 nautical miles (114.96 kilometers) west of Capones Island in Zambales.
PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commo. Jay Tarriela said the vessel was traveling at a speed of nine knots.
Tarriela said CCG 3301 departed from Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal) on July 21 and headed towards El Nido, Palawan.
In Palawan, CCG 3301 joined another Chinese ship, the Zhaotim-class CCGV “3105”, which has been in the area for several days already.
CCG 3301 moved to the northeast of Recto (Reed) Bank in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) or Spratly Islands where it stayed for more than a day, before it proceeded to Zambales.
Meanwhile, CCG 3105 “showed no significant movements” and remained at 64.5 nautical miles (119.44 km) away from Brgy. Tapiutan in El Nido.
The Chinese vessels’ presence in the country’s waters drew comparison to memes circulating online which showed edited photos of Chinese ships and submarines looking like sailing in floodwaters.
Some netizens were amused by the memes while others suggested that the predicament of the typhoon victims should not be a subject of laughter.
"[Naloko] na nauna pa 'yong [C]hina magrescue (Oh my, China did the rescue operations first)," one Facebook user said.
"[H]indi po nakakatuwa content [niyo]. [S]a halip na ipagdasal natin ang mga nasalanta ay parang ang saya [niyo] pa. [K]ayo po kaya ang lumugar sa mga taong nagpopost na humihingi ng tulong para i-share para makarating at humingi ng tulong sa mga rescue dahil marami na [ang] mga batang namamatay? ['Y]un na lang po sana i-post [niyo] para makatulong man lang sa [ganoong] paraan (Your content is not funny. Instead of praying for the typhoon victims, you find their situation funny. What if you put yourself on the shoes of people who are asking for help so they can share it and those assisting in rescue operations because a lot of children are dying? You should post those things instead so you can help)," another one commented.
A large part of Luzon was submerged in flood as Carina dumped heavy rains and enhanced the effects of southwest monsoon (habagat).
Carina left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Thursday morning as it headed to Taiwan.