MANILA – The Philippines did not need China’s help in extricating a Navy frigate that ran aground in the South China Sea, the Filipino military said.
BRP Gregorio del Pilar ran aground during a routine patrol on the evening of Aug. 29 in the vicinity of the Half Moon Shoal (called Hasa Hasa in the Philippines).
The Philippines has notified China about the frigate to avoid any misunderstanding because the incident happened near a hotly disputed region, three Philippine officials said on Aug. 31.
China offered to help deal with the problem but that the Philippines can handle it, Department of Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
“It was not intentional,” military spokesman Colonel Noel Detoyato said about the grounding. He said the frigate hit a shallow stretch of coral outcrop sideways.
The Philippine military said the crew of BRP Gregorio del Pilar was unhurt.
Two tugboats were out to extricate the frigate, Detoyato said, adding that the military deployed an aircraft to monitor the stalled ship.
Propellers of BRP Gregorio del Pilar, which has more than 100 crewmembers, were damaged by the grounding. The crew checked the frigate after it ran aground and reported that it was not taking in water, stated a military report seen by The Associated Press.
Detoyato said the frigate had minimal hull damage and its engine was running.
Philippine Coast Guard divers were assessing the condition of BRP Gregorio del Pilar for them to lay out the retrieval plan well, Detoyato told Philippine News Agency on Saturday.
“While waiting for the tugboats and other [Coast Guard] and Navy platforms to arrive, surface and underwater assessments are being done to come up with the right plan of retrieval,” he said.
An interagency task force, Joint Task Force Goyong, was activated. It includes the Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force, with Commodore Rommel Galang – commander of the Naval Forces West – as leader, Detoyato said.
China was informed of the accident through its military attaché at its embassy in Manila, said the three Philippine officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
BRP Gregorio del Pilar frigate is one of three former United States Coast Guard cutters acquired by the Philippine military from the United States and is now one of the Philippines’ largest warships.
The barren Half Moon Shoal is on the eastern edge of the disputed Spratly Islands, where tensions have run high in recent years after China transformed seven disputed reefs into islands, including three with runways, and reportedly installed missile defense system.
The United States and Asian governments that have claims in the region, including the Philippines, raised alarms over China’s island building and militarization of the strategic territory.
The Philippines earlier was one of the most vocal critics of China’s assertive moves in the disputed waters. In 2016 it largely won a complaint it lodged before an international tribunal, which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea.
But President Rodrigo Duterte took steps to revive once-frosty ties with China after he took office in 2016 as he sought infrastructure funding and more trade and investment from Beijing.
In 2012 a Chinese frigate ran aground on the shoal Half Moon Shoal and was pulled away by Chinese military ships.
Half Moon Shoal lies about 110 kilometers from the southern tip of Palawan province and south of Second Thomas Shoal, where a Philippine Navy transport ship was intentionally grounded in 1999 and has since served as a military outpost.
China has repeatedly demanded the removal of the now rusty BRP Sierra Madre from Second Thomas Shoal, which is claimed by the Philippines and China. (Associated Press and Philippine News Agency)
