The Philippines deployed a vessel anew to the disputed Escoda (Sabina) Shoal shortly after the BRP Teresa Magbanua, which was bullied and harassed by the China Coast Guard (CCG), left a week ago.

Without giving specific details, National Maritime Council (NMC) spokesperson Undersecretary Alexander Lopez said during a Quezon City news forum on Saturday, Sept. 21, that the new Philippine vessel has either arrived or is near the contested shoal.

“Ang importante doon ay nakapaglayag na at ito ay ginagawa niya na iyong kaniyang misyon na mag-conduct ng maritime patrol, misyon na to determine (The important thing is it’s on its way and doing its mission to conduct maritime patrol, mission to determine), to get information, mission to detect and, you know, document whatever illegal activities are there,” he explained.

Stressing that the mere presence of Chinese ships in the shoal is already “illegal,” Lopez shared that part of the ship’s mission there is to monitor the number of Chinese vessels in the area and pass this information to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for a possible filing of a note verbale or diplomatic protest.

“We are documenting iyong mga illegal activities ng China,” he added.

The official also disclosed that acquiring additional naval and coast guard vessels for the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is already in the “pipeline.”

In fact, there are about five to seven ships of the same size as the BRP Teresa Magbanua, the largest ship in the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) fleet, that are currently being manufactured in Japan.

However, Lopez said that assembling and finishing such large ships takes a lot of time because of the complexity of the systems and equipment they require.

“Kung iyong kaha lang madali iyon, pero kung ano iyong ilalagay doon sa loob ay iyon ang magpapatagal (If it’s just the body, that’s easy, but what’s taking long is what they need to put inside),” he added.

Meanwhile, the NMC official explained why as a policy, the Philippines has refused for now the offer of the United States to escort Philippine vessels to the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

“Pero ang posisyon ng ating gobyerno ‘no, unang-una, hindi porke may ganitong problema ay dudulog kaagad tayo. So mayroon tayong tinatawag na sense of pride or dignity as a nation na kung kaya naman natin, tayo muna (The position of our government, first and foremost, is we will not seek help just because of this problem. We have what we call a sense of pride or dignity as a nation that if we can, let’s do it by ourselves first),” he said.

Although he thanked the United States for the offer as it provides a “sense of assurance,” Lopez stressed that the Philippines must first “exhaust all other resources.”

The Philippines, however, is open to accepting the United States’ offer “when push comes to shove and worse comes to worst.”

But even then, Lopez furthered that this would be an “executive decision.”