The grounded BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)
MANILA, Philippines — After almost two months, the military managed to send supplies to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal “without interference” from China, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said on Friday that the rotation and resupply (Rore) mission was carried out on Thursday, Sept. 26.
“AFP was able to deliver supplies and rotate our personnel without interference,” Padilla said in a statement.
Padilla said up to eight Chinese ships were monitored in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal.
She, however, said they “posed no threat to our mission, and our personnel were able to complete it and sustain our presence in the shoal.”
Before this, the last Rore was held on July 27, which was also without incident.
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The uneventful Rore recently was unlike those in previous months, which saw violent actions from China Coast Guard (CCG).
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A naval outpost grounded in Ayungin Shoal since 1999, the BRP Sierra Madre has become one of the flashpoints of tensions between Manila and Beijing.
The June 17 mission in Ayungin Shoal saw what the Philippine military deemed as “looting” of its disassembled high-powered guns and even caused the thumb amputation of one of its naval personnel.
Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the arbitral award issued in July 2016.
This landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, or a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now has an effective control of.
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