“WHY the hell would the Philippine government airdrop construction materials?,” says a top official of the Philippine Navy amid China’s claim that the interception of the packages was meant to prevent the Philippines from repairing the grounded BRP Sierra Madre at the Ayungin Shoal.
According to Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad in his capacity as Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, the most recent action only proved that China sent a bunch of soldiers who have “zero common sense.”
Trinidad’s sarcastic remarks came weeks after the Chinese Coast Guard intercepted one of the four packages airdropped by a Philippine military aircraft for BRP Sierra Madre over suspicions that packages contained construction materials for the grounded naval outpost.
“They lack common sense,” Trinidad told reporters.
“We could not airdrop construction materials… their narrative is that they do the blocking because of construction materials. I would like to point out that they have zero common sense.”
BRP Sierra Madre, which now serves as Philippine Navy outpost, was deliberately run aground in the atoll in 1999 to assert the country’s sovereign rights over a maritime area forming part of the 200-nautical mile Philippine exclusive economic zone.
In recent years, the Philippine government’s resupply mission for Filipino soldiers stationed at the decommissioned World War II warship has sparked tensions between Manila and Beijing.
To ensure that the BRP Sierra Madre would be abandoned as it “melts down,” Chinese Coast Guard ships have been preventing other Philippine ships from getting close to the Philippine Navy outpost embarking on life-threatening tactics like water cannon assaults and dangerous maneuvers.
Amid relentless bullying, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) adopted an “operational mix” like usage of airdrop operations to evade CCG’s squid tactics even as AFP reiterated its previous position – that the military is entitled to repair the dilapidated warship since the shoal where it is aground is well within the country’s exclusive economic zone. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
