By Junex Doronio
TENSIONS FLARED ANEW on Sunday when the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) claimed that Chinese vessels blocked and collided with Philippine boats sending supplies to troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre in the West Philippine Sea.
The NTF-WPS reported that the incident happened at around 6:04 a.m. when the “dangerous blocking maneuvers” of China Coast Guard vessel 5203 (CCGV 5203) caused the collision with the AFP-contracted indigenous resupply boat Unaiza May 2 (UM2) approximately 13.5 nautical miles east northeast of the BRP Sierra Madre.
“The provocative, irresponsible, and illegal action of CCGV 5203 imperiled the safety of the crew of UM2,” the NTF-WPS said in a statement.
The UM2 was conducting a regular and routine rotation and resupply (RORE) mission to BRP Sierra Madre which has been deliberately grounded at the Ayungin Shoal since 1999 during the time of then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada and has since become the symbol of Philippine sovereignty.
In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said that the United States “condemns PRC’s latest disruption of a legal Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal, putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk.”
But China’s coast guard countered that it “lawfully” blocked Philippine vessels that were transporting “illegal construction materials” to BRP Sierra Madre at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. (ai/mnm)