NSC denies China's claim Philippines will tow ship from Ayungin Shoal

The National Security Council denies China's claim on an alleged commitment of the Philippines to tow the grounded BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal.

"There is no record or any minutes of a meeting or any formal report or any legal document ano, legally enforceable document or otherwise, a verbal agreement that we know in the national security council," Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya, National Security Council spokesman, said in a briefing on Tuesday.

"Insofar as we're concerned we have no and will never sign or agree to anything that would in effect abandon our sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea , in particular Ayungin Shoal, precisely because Ayungin Shoal is located in our exclusive economic zone. It is part of our continental shelf and that fact was affirmed by the 2016 ruling of the arbitral tribunal in The Hague," he added.

Malaya said "if there is anyone who allegedly agrees" to full tow the BRP Sierra Madre, "that goes against the legal position of the government."

"Again we can consider this I think a fiction of the imaginations of the Chinese ambassador because we do not know such, even if we review the (statements of) previous secretary or even media reports you would not see that kind of agreement being discussed," he said.

Malaya reiterates that despite the harassments and consistent interference of the Chinese vessel, the Philippines will never abandon its station in Ayungin Shoal.

"Never, never, we will not abandon (BRP) Sierra Madre, even if we have to play 'patintero' 'everyday, we will continue to support and supply our troops in BRP Sierra Madre (LS 57) is a symbol of Philippine sovereignty over that area," he added.

As he assures the public that the government will continue to support the troops in BRP Sierra Madre, Malaya also noted that the government has "a menu of options" on how the resupply mission will be done.

"We will definitely do everything in our power to ensure that our troops in the Ayungin Shoal are properly provisioned, their food, supplies, gasoline will be sent by the Philippine government through the Western Command and the Philippine Coast Guard. So for operational secrecy, I cannot disclose our plan but definitely we can assure the public that we will never abandon our troops there Ayungin Shoal," said Malaya.

"There is a menu of options that are available to our country. We are just waiting for the directive from higher ups, the president, from the Secretary of National Defense, from the National Security Adviser in essence from the National Security Council on what is the option that we are going to choose but again because of national security concerns we cannot disclose but we have a lot of options that we can do moving forward," he said. Robina Asido/DMS