PCG, Palace: China aggression not ‘armed attack’

MANILA – A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official seconded a recent statement from Malacañang that the recent aggression of China’s coastguard that left seven Filipino servicemen injured could not be considered an armed attack.

According to PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela, the June 17 incident should not be viewed as an armed attack, even if CCG officials were recorded brandishing bladed weapons at Filipino troops.

“On the part of the People’s Republic of China, ang intention naman talaga rito is to prevent the resupply mission from being successful. So there is no reason na interpret natin ito that this is an armed attack,” Tarriela said in a forum on Saturday.

“Ang mga kababayan nating Pilipino, kung iniisip nila na magkakaroon ng malakihang digmaan o giyera…we have to go back, ano ba objective ng Philippine government dito, at ano objective ng China,” he added.

“Again, our objective is to resupply, the Chinese objective is to prevent the resupply from happening. That is the only thing that happened there in the resupply mission,” Tarriela further said.

Tarriela further said that loss of a Filipino serviceman’s thumb during the incident was due to the high-speed ramming of rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) and not through the Chinese troops’ weapons.

“We should not interpret this as something (that) we don’t consider as barbaric and inhumane action on the part of the Chinese Coast Guard. We still condemn these actions that they did to our troops,” Tarriela said.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Friday said the incident was not an armed attack that may trigger the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) signed by the Philippines and the United States.

“’No, well this was probably a misunderstanding or accident, we are not yet ready to classify this as an armed attack. I don’t know…‘yung mga nakita namin is mga bolo, ax, nothing beyond that,” Bersamin said on Friday.

Monday last week, CCG personnel, carrying knives, an axe, and pointed sticks, repeatedly rammed then boarded Philippine Navy rubber boats, to stop them from delivering food supplies, firearms and other necessities to Filipino troops at the shoal.

Videos and photos released by the Philippine military showed tense confrontation at the shoal and Philippine boats slashed and navigational screen smashed. China seized two Philippine boats and several M4 rifles./PN