The Philippine Navy maintained that the presence of the military’s commissioned warship grounded at the Ayungin shoal will remain despite China’s continuing spread of false narratives against the country’s assertion of sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea. 

Navy spokesperson for the WPS, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, made the remarks following China’s repeated recommendation to remove the BRP Sierra Madre at the Ayungin Shoal, which they claimed that theirs. 

Earlier this week, China accused the Philippines of causing environmental pollution in the South China Sea, insisting that “solid evidence shows” that the BRP Sierra Madre grounded in the Ayungin shoal has “destroyed coral reefs” in the area. 

Trinidad characterized China’s allegations as “false narratives”

“Last week the armed forces chief of staff released a statement informing everybody that we have to be very careful about foreign malign influence, about the wrong narratives being given out by the Chinese communist party, this is one such false narrative,” he said. 

Trinidad said the Armed Forces of the Philippines will remain committed to ensuring our sovereignty and sovereign rights remain intact in the WPS. 

“We will not give up that ship, it is an indication of the government’s stand, it is the mandate of the AFP to ensure the integrity of the national territory,” he stressed. 

He added that the military will also continue conducting rotational and re-provisional missions for the navy personnel of BRP Sierra Madre. 

China’s microcosm 

Trinidad lambasted China’s overlapping claims of the entire SCS.

“What is happening in the West Philippine Sea is a microcosm, is a picture of China's communist party's actions in the entire Southeast Asian region,” he said. 

“[Our concerns with them] is that their illegal, coercive, aggressive moves are also being done with South Korea, with Vietnam, and with other countries wherein they have overlapping claims in the SCS,”  he added. 

Trinidad lamented China is more aggressive now compared to the past.  

“This may also be reflective of some internal dynamics in their country,” he said.