MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Sunday deployed an aircraft and the BRP Teresa Magbanua to monitor and challenge Chinese vessels operating within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Cabra Island, Occidental Mindoro.
PCG aircraft 2081, a Cessna Grand Caravan, took off from Manila at 8:40 a.m. for a maritime domain awareness flight over the area and visually confirmed China Coast Guard vessel CCG-3303 at about 9:20 a.m., approximately 36.61 nautical miles northwest of Cabra Island.
The aircraft issued multiple radio challenges, asserting that the Chinese vessel was operating within the Philippine EEZ without authorization.
CCG-3303 did not respond to the radio challenges, the PCG said.
Later in the day, the BRP Teresa Magbanua proceeded to the vicinity of Cabra Island for a maritime patrol and monitored three People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) warships with bow numbers 572, 536 and 551.
The three warships were operating about 31 nautical miles northwest of Cabra Island.
As of Sunday afternoon, the BRP Teresa Magbanua was shadowing the PLA-N vessels at distances ranging from 0.74 to 6.28 nautical miles while maintaining a PCG presence in the area.
The development came a day after the PCG monitored another PLA-N frigate, with bow number 569, about 22 nautical miles east-northeast of Bajo de Masinloc.
The PCG said the presence of CCG-3303 and the three PLA-N warships was likely connected to China's monitoring of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts' Working Group on Maritime Security Joint Cooperative Activity, whose at-sea phase concluded in the West Philippine Sea this week.
The PCG's assessment linked the activity near Cabra Island to what it described as Chinese naval shadowing of the ADMM-Plus maritime security activity.
The Coast Guard said it would continue deploying air and surface assets to monitor and document foreign vessels operating within the Philippine EEZ.
The waters northwest of Cabra Island are within the Philippines' EEZ, where Manila exercises sovereign rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
The PCG deployment was made upon the directive of Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil L. Gavan and was in line with the government's policy of maintaining a presence in strategic areas of the West Philippine Sea.
