The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said the National Maritime Council’s (NMC) proposal to announce the schedule of the rotation and resupply (RoRe) mission to Ayungin Shoal was meant to make the international community aware of these.

In an interview with dzBB, PCG Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said “With regard to the objective of publicizing it, again, China is not our only target audience. Our target audience here is the international community.”

“Let us not look at this in a way that we are only reaching out (to) China. We are actually giving the opportunity for all the members of the globe and like-minded states to be aware of our operations,” he added.

“Now, it will also be very difficult for China to block or harass our resupply missions. Imagine if America, Japan, Australia, and the whole European Union were aware that on this day and hour, we will conduct our resupply operation and China would still carry out those aggressive and illegal actions,” he said.

However, Tarriela said they still do not have any details on how the resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal would be publicized since the NMC’s recommendation has not yet been approved by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

The NMC earlier submitted a policy recommendation to Marcos after China Coast Guards (CCG) harassed Philippine forces during a resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal last Monday.

A Philippine Navy Special Operations Group member lost his thumb during the melee as Chinese Coast Guard members boarded the boat. Jaspearl Tan/DMS