The filing of a diplomatic protest against China over its harassment of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessels at Sandy Cays in the West Philippine Sea is an assertion of Philippine rights in the contested waters, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) personnel (left) are face-to-face with China Coast Guard (CCG) forces during a marine scientific survey and sand sampling at Sandy Cays on Jan. 24, 2025. (Photo from the Philippine Coast Guard)
DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega underscored the importance of the protests even as he recognized public perceptions that they fail to stop Chinese aggression in the region.
“Yeah, but if we don’t diplomatically protest, China or other countries would interpret to mean that Philippines is not anymore that interested in asserting his rights,” he said during last weekend’s Quezon City media forum.
He explained that since last year, the DFA had decided to file protests weekly because the government had to file about 200 protests in 2023.
“Now, what’s important with the protest? It shows to the international community that we have not abandoned our rights,” De Vega stressed.
“It’s not just a matter of telling China don’t do it, but always asserting our sovereign rights because if you suddenly stop doing it and then it takes a long time biglang tumagal nang hindi mo ginagawa (suddenly it takes a long time and you’re not doing) it could be interpreted to mean we are weakening in our position,” the official added.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela confirmed the filing of the diplomatic protest.
“Yes. This incident only happened yesterday morning ‘no. So, on the part of the Coast Guard, we documented this,” he said when asked if a protest will be filed.
“We’re going to forward this to the National Task Force West Philippine Sea, and since DFA is part of this, we will give a furnishing copies as well of the incident report,” he added.
The PCG reported on Saturday, Jan. 25, that China Coast Guard (CCG) and People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) harassed BFAR vessels BRP Datu Pagbuaya and BRP Datu Bankaw while en route to Sandy Cays for a marine scientific survey and sand sampling.
Tarriela said that the vessels were not able to complete the mission of procuring sand samples, which are used for research management investigation and other scientific purposes.
“No. Ang target ng (The target of this) marine scientific research na ito is to go directly sa (to) Sandy Cays to get sand samples. So, we’re not able to complete all of those,” he shared.
The Philippines repeatedly filed diplomatic protests against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea and has stressed a 2016 arbitral tribunal victory that ruled against Beijing’s overarching territorial and maritime claims in the resource-rich waters.