PCG yet to send ship to check on Chinese vessel near Benham Rise
PCG yet to send ship to check on Chinese vessel near Benham Rise
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has yet to deploy a ship to check on the Chinese research vessel in the eastern section of the country as most of its assets are concentrated in the West Philippine Sea.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, on Wednesday said that they are still waiting for an available vessel to check on “Shen Kuo” which was found “loitering” near Philippine (Benham) Rise since last week.
“To be honest with you, right now, our limited number of vessels are strategically in the western side in the western seaboard,” Tarriela said in a press briefing.
“Should there be already an available vessel that we can deploy, we will be deploying it to check on the Chinese survey ship,” he also said.
READ: Unauthorized presence of Chinese research ship seen off Catanduanes
Over the weekend, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported that the Shen Kuo was spotted off Viga town in Catanduanes.
Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, on Tuesday also revealed that Shen Kuo was laying out an unidentified piece of equipment around 100 miles east of Catanduanes.
READ: China’s research ship in eastern PH using unidentified equipment
“The Philippine Air Force on a maritime surveillance flight was able to get a picture of the ship lowering an unidentified equipment probably for scientific research or studies,” Trinidad said in a regular AFP briefing.
“We are still trying to identify the particular type of equipment that was monitored,” he added.
This is the second time this year alone that a Chinese research vessel was spotted in the country’s eastern section near the Philippine (Benham) Rise, a 24-million-hectare undersea feature part of the Philippine continental shelf and is inside the country’s exclusive economic zone.