ASEAN HEADLINE-ASIA GEOPOLITICS | WEST PHILIPPINE SEA: Philippine military (AFP) wants China to pay P60M for June 17 attack
SMASHED AND THREATENED A Philippine Navy sailor shows a cell phone that was allegedly cracked open by a China Coast Guard member against the backdrop of smashed navigational and communication equipment of a resupply boat at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal during the June 17 attack by the Chinese who wielded knives and axes while threatening the Filipinos who tried to deliver essential provisions for troops on the BRP Sierra Madre which is grounded there. —PHOTO FROM ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES
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The Philippine military wants P60 million in damages from China following the June 17 attack at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal where the Chinese coast guard wounded a Filipino sailor, confiscated firearms, and destroyed naval equipment.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on Thursday said he had written to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. about the AFP’s demand so that it could be forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs “for them to reach out to their counterparts in China.”
“They destroyed our equipment and when we estimated the cost of the damage, it’s P60 million,” Brawner said at a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo following a command conference with President Marcos.
He did not provide a breakdown of the amount of compensation the military sought from the Chinese.
One of the expenses that may have to be compensated includes the surgery on SN1 Jeffrey Facundo who lost his right thumb during the attack.
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“We are also looking into the possibility of charging them with the cost of restructuring the hand of SN1 Facundo because he will undergo surgery to restore the function of his hand,” Brawner said.
Facundo, a member of the Naval Special Operations Group, was on one of the Philippine Navy’s rigid hull inflatable boats carrying supplies to men on the BRP Sierra Madre, the military outpost on Ayungin Shoal.
The boat was repeatedly rammed by a similar vessel of the China Coast Guard (CCG), severing his right thumb.
Brawner said that a new medical technology would allow him to fully use his right hand again.
On June 17, the CCG personnel, wielding bolos, spears, and knives to threaten Filipino troops, used high-pitched sirens and high-powered strobe lights to disrupt the resupply mission to the Sierra Madre.
READ: ‘Barbaric’: 2 new reports of Chinese harassment
The Chinese boarded the Navy boats, smashed their navigational equipment, and seized several high-powered firearms which had been disassembled and packed. At least one of the Philippine boats was slashed and punctured, rendering it immobile.
According to Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Navy spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea, China has not returned the firearms.
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Return of firearms
Trinidad said the demand for the return of the firearms had been sent to China through the responsible government agencies.
“We are awaiting feedback from them (the Chinese),” he told reporters.
The Philippines and its international allies have condemned the attack as “barbaric” and a violation of international law.
In the same press briefing, Brawner said the military already informed Mr. Marcos about what could be done for the next resupply mission to Sierra Madre.
“We have presented to our President several options that the AFP will be doing not just in terms of performing our rotation and resupply missions but including the other operations in the WPS,” he said, without elaborating.
The June 17 attack on the Navy resupply mission was the most violent since the CCG in recent months upscaled its blockade of the Sierra Madre and Ayungin with high-powered water cannons and dangerous vessel maneuvers, according to the military.
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Letting the world know
The Philippine side has not responded in kind. Instead, it openly shows to the rest of the world on various social media platforms the pictures and videos of the actions taken against Filipinos delivering food and other essential necessities to the troops manning the Sierra Madre, a decrepit and rusted warship grounded on the shoal.
Beijing’s spokespersons typically respond by blaming such incidents on Filipinos, who they say have illegally entered the waters around Ayungin over which, they claim, China had “indisputable” sovereignty and sovereign rights.
China and its supporters also portray the Philippines as a US “vassal,” stirring up trouble in the South China Sea.
Beijing continues to reject a July 2012 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal that invalidated its expansive claims to the South China Sea and upheld the Philippines’ sovereign right to its 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone, including Ayungin.
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