The Philippine Coast Guard-led Task Force Tubbataha is not setting a new deadline for the removal of the USS Guardian from the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea, according to the PCG spokesperson.
More than 400 individuals from Sabah have been stranded on Taganak Island (Turtle Island) in Tawi-Tawi province since Saturday night, waiting to be rescued by the government, a Philippine Navy official said on Sunday.
The Philippine Navy intercepted two motorboats carrying 80 people from strife-torn Sabah on Friday.
Three Royal Thai navy ships arrived at 8 a.m. Friday in South Harbor in Manila for a goodwill visit, the Philippine Navy said.
Visiting members of the United States House of Representatives reiterated their country’s regrets for the grounding of the USS Guardian on the protected Tubbataha Reef, an official of the US Embassy in Manila said Wednesday.
The United States Navy has sent an assessment team that would plan and execute the delicate extraction of an American minesweeper from the Tubbataha Reef with the least damage on the marine sanctuary where it has been trapped since Thursday, the unit’s Japan-based fleet has said.
Malacañang on Friday confirmed that the US Navy warship, USS Guardian, that ran aground on Tubattaha Reef had come from Subic Bay for a “regular port call,” but the Palace was shunning any discussion this early on seeking indemnity from Washington for coral damage.
Chinese poachers have become bolder and entered the waters of a town in the southernmost tip of Palawan to harvest coral and catch sea turtles, according to a report by the Philippine Navy on Saturday.
Some 25,000 sailors and other military personnel from 22 nations are converging on Hawaii starting Friday to practice hunting for submarines and catching pirates in the world’s largest naval exercises.
A lawmaker on Tuesday said that the country’s ongoing standoff with China over the ownership of Panatag (Scarborough) shoal indicated that a “stronger Navy” was necessary in asserting its sovereignty.
A senator on Wednesday said the Philippines should seek the help of the United States and other allies if a tense standoff with China in the Scarborough Shoal escalates, saying the country has no military capability to assert its sovereignty.
A Philippine Navy ship and at least two Chinese vessels were locked in a standoff for a second day at the Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday after the Philippine Navy caught eight Chinese fishing boats poaching in Philippine waters and was about to apprehend them, the foreign office said.
