The conduct of patrol of China’s biggest Coast Guard Ship around 54 nautical miles off Zambales was meant to intimidate local fishermen amid the continuous encouragement of the Philippine government to go on with their daily lives.
But National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the Philippine government will not be intimidated by the recent action of the Chinese government in the West Philippine Sea.
“This appears to be part of the intimidation, part of the coercion, aggression and deception that China has been doing. They just show that they have this kind of big ship and they are intimidating our fishermen in the West Philippine Sea,” said Malaya during the Bagong Pilipinas briefing on Monday, Jan. 6.
“In response, we will intensify the presence of our BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and our Coast Guard to support our fishermen,” he added.
Malaya said part of the response on China’s Coast Guard Vessel 5901’s presence within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is the monitoring and radio challenge by Philippine authorities.
He said Philippine assets were also deployed to monitor the movement of China’s Coast guard vessel.
“We do not want to be the precursor of any provocative action so as of now, what we are doing is we are shadowing this vessel,” said Malaya.
He said they will continue to encourage local fishermen not to be intimidated by the presence of China’s big coast guard vessel.
Malaya also assured local fishermen that the national government’s support system will remain strong.