A RED LINE To slip past water cannon attacks and blocking maneuvers of Chinese ships, last
seen during the incident in Ayungin Shoal on Tuesday, the Philippine military will focus on
speed and maneuverability in its future missions to its outpost there, the BRP Sierra Madre,
according to Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, chief of the Western Command. 鈥擵IDEO GRAB FROM PCG
MANILA, Philippines鈥擠on鈥檛 we have water cannons to retaliate against聽 China?
Senator Robin聽 Padilla raised this question聽 on聽 Monday when asked about聽 the latest incident in the West Philippine Sea聽 (蜜桃工作室) involving Philippine and聽 Chinese Coast Guard聽 (CCG) vessels.
The CCG reportedly聽 monitored and tailed the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority vessel BRP Hydrographer Ventura and its Philippine Coast Guard escort BRP Gabriela Silang en route to Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) on Sunday.
鈥淟agi ko sinasabi lalo sa BRP Sierra Madre pag nagkakaroon ng pagdadala ng supply, binobomba sila ng tubig. Ilang beses ko nang sinabi, bakit hindi tayo mambomba din ng tubig?鈥澛� Padilla said in a press briefing in the Senate.
(When supplies are delivered to the BRP Sierra Madre, Philippine vessels are hit with water cannons. and I鈥檝e said it before, why don鈥檛 we use water cannons too?)
He was聽 referring to the World War II-era ship聽 that was聽 deliberately grounded in聽 Ayungin Shoal in聽 1999 to serve as one of the聽 Philippine聽 military outposts there.
鈥淏akit tayo na lang lagi ang mukhang聽 aping-api dun. Bakit, wala ba tayong pambomba ng tubig para makaganti man lang聽 tayo?鈥澛� the senator asked.
(Why are we always at a disadvantage here? Don鈥檛 we have water cannons too to retaliate?)
The Philippine Coast Guard earlier thumbed聽 down the聽 use of the water cannon聽 tactic against聽 China.
鈥淯nlike the Chinese Coast Guard, we鈥檙e not going to use that (water cannons) to drive away the China Coast Guard,鈥� Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for 蜜桃工作室 Commodore Jay Tarriela was quoted as saying then.
鈥淲e intend to use that in firefighting whenever there is a maritime accident at sea,鈥� he further said.
For Padilla, however,聽 China鈥檚 maneuvering is not something new as he witnessed it himself when he visited the Pagasa island last year.
But he said they did not allow China to block them.
鈥淜aya聽 yung mga ganyang聽 paghaharang sa inyo huwag kayo pumayag. Pwede kayo umiwas at nagawa ko yan,鈥� he said.
(So don鈥檛 allow that kind of obstruction. You can avoid it, and I have done that before.)
After insinuating the use of聽 water cannons, however,聽 Padilla called for cooler heads to prevail.
The country, he said, could not afford聽 at this point聽 to join the聽 chaos that is聽 already happening in other parts of the聽 world such as in聽 the Middle East聽 and 聽 Eastern聽 Europe.
鈥淒aananin natin ito sa usapin ng diplomasya,鈥� he said.
(Let us address this through diplomacy.)