THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said that BRP Sierra Madre will remain in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, belying allegations by the Chinese Embassy in Manila that China has long demanded that the Philippine government remove the ship that symbolizes its claim on the area.
“Allow me to say this to all and sundry, Filipinos and foreigners alike: BRP Sierra Madre is there to stay on Ayungin Shoal. We will not remove that ship,” Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday.
BRP Sierra Madre is a World War II US Navy tank landing ship that the Philippine Navy intentionally grounded on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a permanent military outpost asserting Philippine sovereignty through a physical base in the area following China’s occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995.
The Chinese Embassy claimed that the Philippine government grounded the ship in the area because it had “leaking problems” and needed “emergency repairs.”
It added that China immediately “lodged formal protests and demanded that the ship be towed away.”
The AFP said there has been a noted spike in foreign malign influence (FMI) from China over the past four months.
FMIs are hostile efforts by a foreign government — or its proxies — to covertly or coercively shape public opinion, policies and democratic institutions in another country to advance its own interests.
Trinidad said such operations specifically target government officials, including Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., through dissemination of false narratives on Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), the West Philippine Sea, and Ayungin Shoal, as well as distortion of present and historical facts aiming to divide the nation.
