‘Beijing cannot order us around’

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, General Romeo Brawner bristled Wednesday at the notion that the Philippines cannot undertake repairs of the BRP Sierra Madre which the country intentionally grounded to serve as its permanent outpost at Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

Brawner said the Philippines has sovereign authority and territorial jurisdiction in and around Ayungin Shoal and elsewhere in the WPS, thus China cannot oppose any upgrades to the Sierra Madre.

China has claimed Ayungin Shoal and many other areas in the WPS as its own, engaging in provocative and dangerous actions against Philippine vessels, including "intentionally" bumping a boat resupplying the Sierra Madre and an escorting Philippine Coast Guard ship, the BRP Cabra.

Beijing has claimed that the resupply ships have been bringing with them construction materials to be used to repair the World War 2 vessel BRP Sierra Madre.

"I really believe that we have the right to repair the ship because that is a Philippine-commissioned Navy ship. Even if it was stuck in Ayungin Shoal, it's our right to repair it," Brawner said at the Kapihan sa Manila media forum.

"So, for me, the Chinese have no right to tell us not to repair it while they themselves have created these artificial islands (within the WPS)," he said.

Beijing had gone so far as to install missile systems on the artificial islands, Brawner averred.

Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said China "has no legal authority" to enforce anything in Ayungin Shoal because it is located just 105.77 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine land mass, Palawan.

China's artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea are located on the following reefs: Subi, Mischief, Fiery Cross, Johnson South, Gaven, Hughes and Cuarteron.

The reefs are located within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In 2016, an arbitral tribunal convened under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines on most of its submissions in a dispute with China over the South China Sea.