Coast Guard vessel is lone Philippine ship in Scarborough face-off

The Philippine military has maintained a lone vessel in the continuing face-off with two Chinese maritime surveillance ships at  Scarborough Shoal.

On the sixth day of the standoff, the Philippine Coast Guard withdrew the search and rescue vessel BRP Pampanga for reprovisioning and replaced it with its sister ship, BRP Edsa, which arrived at the shoal at around 7 a.m. Monday.

On Thursday, the Philippine Navy flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar pulled out of the area to restock and refuel, officials said.

The frigate was dispatched to Scarborough Shoal on March 10 after two Chinese vessels stopped the Philippine Navy from boarding eight Chinese fishing boats illegally fishing in the area, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China. The fishing boats slipped away on Friday, but the Chinese maintained its presence at the shoal.

“The BRP Edsa is there to replace BRP Pampanga, which will undergo reprovisioning,” Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Alger Ricafrente said in a phone interview.

Lt. Gen.  Anthony Alcantara, commanding general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Northern Luzon Command, said the situation with the Coast Guard ship and the two Chinese maritime surveillance vessels was “stable.”

“As of this time, the two Chinese marine surveillance vessels are still there. The Coast Guard vessel is also there. A  second ship of the Coast Guard arrived this morning,” Alcantara said.

Alcantara said the BRP Gregorio del Pilar,  a Hamilton 378-foot high endurance cutter of the US Coast Guard acquired last August,  was “ready to support the Coast Guard anytime.”

So far there have been no new sighting of a Chinese aircraft, he said.  “I believe it’s very stable. Filipino fishermen are there. That’s our fishing grounds, so they are in and out of the shoal,” Alcantara said in a phone interview.

Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Adm. Alexander Pama said there was no plan to redeploy the BRP Gregorio del Pilar to the shoal and that any decision on this would be “up to higher authorities.”

“Personally, I hope we don’t get to send Navy ships because it’s a law enforcement issue,” Pama said when interviewed at the opening ceremony of the Philippine-US Balikatan exercises.

Though pitted against two Chinese vessels, the lone Coast Guard ship will do “for the intended purpose,” Pama said.

“Regardless whether it’s a Navy ship or a Coast Guard or even a contingent of Boy Scouts who are there on the basis of instructions from our national leadership, the bottom line is they are there bringing the Philippine flag,” the Navy chief said.

He declined to comment on the escape of the eight Chinese fishing vessels that the BRP Gregorio del Pilar apprehended last Tuesday for poaching and harvesting endangered clams, sharks and corals.

“I cannot make any statement or thoughts about that because at that time our ship was not there. So I leave it to the Coast Guard to describe what happened,” Pama said.