Asserting the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, a navy official said the increasing number of Chinese vessels in the area is no cause for alarm.

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, the newly designated Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the number of Chinese warships operated by the People’s Liberation Army and the China Coast Guard vessels in the sailing disputed waters “has been fairly constant” for the past eight to 10 years.

Trinidad, however, said the military noticed the increasing number of Chinese ships in the WPS when China started to deploy maritime militia vessels in the area.

“It’s not alarming, it’s normal, it is based on the South Sea Fleet that they could deploy so a lot of these are under the South Sea Sleet — that include their grey ships. So just like any other navy, their numbers are also limited based on the operational tempo, of repair, and training, maintenance,” he explained during a press conference on Tuesday in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The “illegal presence” of around 100 to 200 Chinese militia ships was monitored in separate patrols being carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard since November last year.

In December last year, at least 135 militia ships were spotted “swarming” Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef — located 324 kilometers (175 nautical miles) west of Bataraza, Palawan province.

“The presence of the PLA Navy ships, the coast guard vessels, and the maritime militia has been noted for the past, I mentioned five to eight years, it is nothing alarming,” Trinidad said.

“It’s a normal deployment, we have our own deployment, of our own forces from the navy and… the AFP.”

AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said what triggers tension in the WPS is the behavior perpetrated by the CCG against Philippine vessels, particularly in the Ayungin Shoal.

“As the good commodore said, they’re consistent throughout past years so it’s really not alarming in terms of the numbers —but what we are really concerned about is their actions towards our own troops so we keep on repeating that,” she said.

In the previous months, the AFP’s supply boats operating in Ayungin Shoal were repeatedly subjected to CCG’s harassment, blockage and dangerous maneuvers.

The CCG earlier this week claimed that they have entered temporary arrangements with the AFP — allowing the Philippine forces to conduct resupply and re-provisional mission to the troops stationed at the navy commissioned BRP Sierra Madre (LS 57) in the Ayungin Shoal.

“The Philippine Navy, in particular, and the AFP in general does not need to seek any permission from any power, any foreign power. We could sail and fly in support of our constitutional mandate,” Trinidad said, debunking China’s claims.

Trinidad pressed that the Ayungin Shoal is low-tide elevation rightfully falls under within the Philippine exclusive economic zone

“We have sovereign rights and the waters adjacent to LS 57, [in] second Thomas Shoal,” he said.