After a five-month patrol at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, the BRP Teresa Magbanua has returned to port at Puerto Princesa City. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel, which was rammed by the Chinese during its deployment to Escoda, will undergo repairs. (PCG PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Weeks after the pullout of BRP Teresa Magbanua, the country reasserted its presence in Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea by dispatching a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship to the area.
SeaLight Director Ray Powell said BRP Cape Engaño patrolled the area from Wednesday and Thursday, but not without challenges from China Coast Guard (CCG) and its maritime militia.
Powell, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, said the 44-meter multi role response vessel (MRRV) ship’s patrol drew “a strong reaction from China’s nearby coast guard & maritime militia ships.”
Before heading to Escoda, the MRRV shadowed a flotilla of Chinese ships which sailed relatively near the Palawan coast on Tuesday.
This flotilla consisted of a research ship, two large CCG ships and 10 maritime militia vessels.
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On Wednesday, BRP Cape Engaño stopped shadowing the flotilla and headed toward Escoda Shoal.
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CCG ships from nearby Mischief Reef, however, headed towards the direction of the shoal in anticipation of the PCG ship.
“By midnight they were in position to interdict an approach,” Powell said.
There were “at least” four CCG and 15 militia ships near Escoda to keep BRP Cape Engaño away.
On Thursday, BRP Cape Engaño began to move away from Escoda Shoal and was on its way back to port at Buliluyan Port in Bataraza, Palawan.
Anchored in the shoal since April 16 before returning to port this month, BRP Teresa Magbanua was the longest-deployed PCG asset in the West Philippine Sea.
The 97-meter MRRV arrived in Puerto Princesa port on Sept. 15 with four dehydrated crewmembers who subsisted on porridge and rainwater weeks prior as CCG thwarted the arrival of their supplies.
The CCG started to disrupt the resupply missions for the flagship vessel only in August, according to Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea.
This blockade comes as Chinese state publication Global Times once claimed that BRP Teresa Magbanua is “semi-grounded” in Escoda Shoal, similar to what it said the country did with the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded navy warship at the shoal’s adjacent Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
Powell told INQUIRER.net on Wednesday that the grounding of another ship there is already “untenable in the long term.”
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“The Philippines seems to have already moved on from that,” Powell said of the grounding of another ship.
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