The Armed Forces of the Philippines, denying its involvement, has stepped into the attempted shipment of 39 million gallons of fuel from the United States Naval Station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to a commercial storage facility in Subic, Zambales.

“We started an investigation also, so we are ready to present the facts we have unearthed about this importation of gasoline into the country,” Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. said in an interview on Thursday.

The military chief made the remarks after Senator Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, demanded that the Department of National Defense and the AFP explain the shipment of 39 million gallons of fuel.

“We saw documents that supported the importation or the transfer of this gasoline into the country,” Brawner said.

AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said earlier that the military organization “has nothing to explain.”

Procedures followed

“The fuel shipment and the process that was followed by the US government, which were administrative in nature, did not involve the participation of the Armed Forces,” Aguilar said.

Citing reports she received, Marcos said the fuel cargo was loaded onto a US-registered tanker, the Yosemite Trader, and transported from the US Navy-run Red Hill Underground Storage Facility in Honolulu to the Philippine Coastal Storage and Pipeline Corp. at the Subic Bay Freeport.

She added that the fuel cargo entered the Philippine territory on Tuesday, 9 January.

Brawner said the AFP is ready to answer any queries.

“There were government agencies involved, but we will not mention which agencies these were. However, in case we’re invited (to an investigation), we are ready to explain our side,” he said.

He said the AFP’s counterpart in the US “usually asks for permission” from the government to bring military logistical requirements into the Philippines.

“The direct items, for instance, that come into the country are given notice to the armed forces,” he said.

No entry clearance

In a statement, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, which manages the freeport, said the fuel transfer did not push through as the Yosemite Trader needed clearance from the Philippine government.

SMBA said the Yosemite Trader applied for entry clearance from its Seaport Department on 2 January through the shipping agent Parsh Marine Philippines Inc.

It said the vessel carried five million gallons of F-76—a type of military fuel for ships equipped with the latest turbine engines.

“On the morning of the scheduled arrival, however, ship agent Parsh Marine requested the cancellation of the vessel’s entry clearance, accordingly, due to the absence of a diplomatic clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs,” the SMBA said.

“It is clear, therefore, that the Yomesite Trader did not enter the waters of Subic Bay and was not able to discharge its cargo at the storage facility as earlier reported,” it added.