CHINESE fishing and maritime militia vessels that are inside the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) are irregularly moving and are changing locations, but the government has managed to track them, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.
Esperon, who is also the chairman of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), disclosed the Chinese boats’ pattern of movements while emphasizing that the country has not given up any of its maritime claims by guarding all of the islands and features that it owns in those territories.
“We have our stations, eight stations. Look at the flags. Our biggest station is Pagasa Island. We have maritime patrols over the area. Our Coast Guard are deployed in the area, the Bureau of Fisheries vessels and the Philippine National Police, it’s a combined effort,” Esperon said at a virtual briefing on the fishery situation in the WPS.
“And there are two primary missions there: one is to protect our stations, second, if not number one, would be to protect our fisherfolks wherever they reach, wherever they go within this area,” he added.
In December last year, more than 230 Chinese ships, both fishing vessels and maritime militia boats, were seen at the Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef) before they dispersed and reappeared in bigger number in different locations within the KIG and the WPS, prompting the government to intensify its patrol and send more ships to those areas.
“If you would ask me now, where the Chinese fishing vessels are, there would be as we know, we have seen them in Julian Felipe, which we are showing there, or the Whitsun Reef and in the vicinity of this whole complex which is the Union Bank,” Esperon said while pointing to the WPS areas.
“We have also seen them in Sabina Shoal to the right and in Ayungin or in the Reed Bank area, or in Pagasa area or near the islands that have become the centers of action of other countries. In other words, they keep changing their locations,” he added.
The national security adviser said the government continues to keep track of the Chinese vessels and their locations while recalling previous incidents where Coast Guard ships have shooed them away from Sabina Shoal, Reed Bank, Julian Felipe Reef and near Pagasa Island.
Some of the Chinese fishing vessels, according to Esperon, are even bigger than “our 44-meter Coast Guard vessels.” The Philippine Coast Guard is in the process of acquiring bigger patrol boats and multi-role vessels from Japan and France.
While Chinese vessels are present in the WPS and KIG, the government has been guarding its stakes in those territories where the “Philippine flag” is visibly planted and flying.
“Please take note that there are nine Philippine flags here. And four of them are inside our EEZ (WPS) and five are outside our EEZ, but within our Kalayaan Island Group,” Esperon said.
The Kalayaan Island Group automatically became part of the Philippine territory by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 1596 issued in 1976 by then President Ferdinand Marcos, which as a result, gave way to the creation of the Municipality of Kalayaan, part of the province of Palawan.
Kalayaan’s seat of power is located in the island of Pagasa.
While three other features, Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reefs, are also subjects of claims by the country or even located within its exclusive economic zone, they have been occupied and reclaimed by China.
“Mischief Reef used to be a low tide elevation, but today it is 586 hectares with the three-kilometer air strip. 586 is more than double the size of the Bonifacio Global City. Subi is also a low tide elevation. It is also twice that of the Bonifacio Global City. Fiery Cross is about 180 hectares,” Esperon said.