THE Department of National Defense (DND) on Saturday said the recent Chinese interference in the routine humanitarian rotation and resupply (RORE) mission to Ayungin Shoal will not deter the Philippines from undertaking similar missions in the future.
Eight Chinese vessels reportedly hampered the conduct of a RORE on Thursday, the first since the Philippines and China signed a “provisional understanding” in 2024.
“The RORE is a Philippine mission, and we will not be deterred... [there will be] temporary setbacks, but the mission will go on,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in Filipino at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.
The DND, Teodoro said, has already submitted to the national security adviser recommendations on what actions to take.
“I will not disclose, that’s operational; nonetheless, the RORE mission is a mission of the Republic of the Philippines, and it has to go on. Naturally, we have to do it, but we will not tell how, when, where,” he added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the incident involved three People’s Liberation Army Navy warships and five China Coast Guard vessels.
The harassment took place from around 8:35 p.m. to 11 p.m. while the Philippine supply ship, MV Lapu-Lapu, along with three Philippine Navy and Coast Guard support vessels, is about 60 nautical miles off Ayungin Shoal.
The vessels were to deliver supplies and rotate personnel manning the BRP Sierra Madre.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said the Chinese interference put Filipino personnel at risk and was inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award, which affirmed the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its exclusive economic zone, including the Ayungin Shoal.
