West PH Sea: China tried but failed to block medical evacuation of sailor – PCG
FILE PHOTO: The BRP Sierra Madre, a Navy warship that now serves as a military outpost, keeps watch over Ayungin (Second Thomas), located within the country’s exclusive economic zone. Philippine Daily Inquirer/Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines (Updated) — The China Coast Guard on Sunday tried but failed to block the medical evacuation of a navy personnel stationed in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the country’s coast guard deployed its assets to assist sick personnel in BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57).
“The PCG faced numerous obstructing and delaying maneuvers by CCG vessels, but they remained steadfast to their humanitarian mission and was able to complete the transfer of the sick personnel from the LS-57 RHIB to the PCG RHIB,” Tarriela said in a statement.
READ: West PH Sea: CCG, militia vessels intercept 2 PCG boats near Ayungin
It was West Philippine Sea monitor Ray Powell who first reported on Sunday that a 102-meter-long CCG ship, along with at least six maritime militia vessels, tried to block PCG’s ships BRP Cabra and BRP Cape Engaño.
Tarriela confirmed that the PCG deployed BRP Cabra and BRP Cape Engaño to accompany a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB).
“Despite the threatening presence of various CCG small vessels, the PCG RHIB was able to return to the main PCG vessel without further interruption. The sick personnel was then provided with urgent medical attention. The personnel is now stable,” Tarriela further said.
PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo told INQUIRER.net on Tuesday that the navy personnel was rushed to Western Command headquarters due to dehydration.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, thanked the PCG for ensuring the safety of the navy sailor.
“We would like to thank the coast guard for being part of the effort to ensure the safety and security of our people deployed on BRP Sierra Madre,” Trinidad said in a press conference.
Powell said Beijing’s latest actions in the medical evacuation create a dilemma for Manila.
“This incident spotlights the dilemma in which China’s blockade of Ayungin Shoal has placed the Philippines,” Powell told INQUIRER.net in a message on X (formerly Twitter).
“For Manila to recognize Beijing’s stated pre-notification requirement—even for basic humanitarian missions—runs counter to Manila’s assertion of its freedom of navigation and resupply rights to its own outpost within its own exclusive economic zone,” he added.
China said that the Philippines should “notify” them “in advance” when conducting resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal, a proposition rejected by the latter.
China previously attempted to prevent similar medical emergencies in Ayungin Shoal.
Last May 19, the CCG rammed a PCG boat transporting a sick BRP Sierra Madre personnel in an incident that also saw the former’s seizing and dumping of food and other supplies airdropped by the Philippine military aircraft for the naval outpost.
On June 17, a CCG boat also rammed a Philippine military boat while navy personnel were applying a tourniquet to the right hand of a sailor who lost his thumb due to an earlier ramming incident during the resupply mission for BRP Sierra Madre.
The CCG actions during naval outpost resupply that time led to what the military deemed as the “looting” of seven firearms and the destruction of two navy boats.
READ: West Philippine Sea: Navy’s June 17 encounter with CCG incurs P60M damage
Manila is holding the line in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea — including most of the exclusive economic zone of the country’s western section — even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the arbitral award issued in July 2016.
The landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now has effective control of.
Beijing, which asserts its claim through a “ten-dash line,” continues to reject the historic ruling.
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