The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) drove away a Chinese maritime militia vessel and 22 sampans found operating inside the territorial sea of Kota Island in the West Philippine Sea on Friday afternoon.
PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela said Coast Guard personnel monitored Chinese Maritime Militia Vessel (CMMV) 9622 and its deployed small boats fishing in the area around 3 p.m., with one vessel operating approximately 250 meters northeast of the feature.
Personnel from Coast Guard Station Kota deployed aboard two rubber boats at 3:30 p.m. to intercept and push back the foreign vessels.
“The Chinese vessels were also observed dumping waste at sea,” Tarriela said.
Tarriela said CMMV 9622 encircled the responding PCG rubber boats while its master used hand gestures demanding that local authorities vacate the location.
“Undeterred, the PCG team expelled the sampans one by one over a period of approximately two hours. One sampan refused to leave, resulting in minor contact, with no injuries or damage sustained. The sampan eventually complied and departed,” Tarriela also said.
“By 5:30 p.m., all Chinese vessels had been pushed back to approximately 3.5 nautical miles from Kota Island and departed toward the northwest, and the operation was terminated,” Tarriela added.
The PCG noted that CMMV 9622 is the same mothership unit driven away from Kota Island on Sept. 28 alongside 24 deployed sampans.
Tarriela emphasized that Kota Island forms part of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan province.
“The presence of a Chinese maritime militia vessel coordinating a fleet of sampans as close as 250 meters from the shoreline is a blatant violation of the territorial sea of Kota Island and an affront to Philippine sovereignty,” Tarriela also said.
Tarriela also said the country maintains full territorial sovereignty over the surrounding waters, where foreign commercial fishing remains illegal.
“Such conduct is likewise a clear violation of Philippine laws, including the Philippine Fisheries Code and the Philippine Maritime Zones Act,” Tarriela also said.
“The claim made by the Chinese vessel’s master that the area belongs to China has no basis whatsoever under international law,” Tarriela added.