No firing occurred, but Chinese ship did shoo Navy patrol planes off Kagitingan Reef

From InterAksyon (Apr 23): No firing occurred, but Chinese ship did shoo Navy patrol planes off Kagitingan Reef



Snapshot of Chinese activity at Kagitingan Reef as of January, 2015.

Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez, chief of the Western Command (Westcom), confirmed on Thursday another aggressive action this week by Chinese vessels, believed to be warships, in driving a patrol plane of the Philippine Navy away from Kagitingan (Subi) Reef in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Before lunch on Monday, April 20, two Islander aircraft were conducting a routine sovereignty patrol mission over Kagitingan (Subi) Reef, which has been converted by China into a small artificial islet along with the construction of what appeared to be an airfield and military garrison.

The patrol planes were making their runs over Kagitingan when one of the ships guarding the reclamation activities trained its searchlights on the Philippine planes in an obvious signal to shoo them away.

In addition, the pilots reported monitoring radio transmission in broken English for them to "go away."

"But it’s not true that our Islander was fired upon by the frigate-class Chinese ship," Lopez said in a telephone interview.

"Nagra-radyo pa sila na umalis sa Kagitingan dahil teritoryo daw ito ng China. Yan ang tunay na nangyari sa Kagitingan (They contacted us by radio, telling us to leave and claiming that the place was Chinese territory. That was what actually happened at Kagitingan),' Lopez said.

Lt. Col. Harold M Cabunoc, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office, issued a formal statement on Thursday, saying: "We strongly deny that any of our military planes was fired upon by a Chinese vessel while flying to Pagasa Island to pick up a patient. Supposed firing incidents in the West Philippine Sea is a serious matter that must not be subject to malicious rumors.

"We confirm that Western Command (WESCOM) was requested and scheduled to pick up a patient named Chito Pastor using Nomad plane from Pagasa Island. However, they were not able to provide air assets due to technical problems.

"Instead WESCOM allowed the relatives of the patient to send in a Piper 30 civilian plane to evacuate the patient."

According to the group's leader, Leo Almazan, their mission is "to tell not only the amateur radio world but also the rest of the world that Pagasa is sovereign Philippine territory.'

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/109346/no-firing-occurred-but-chinese-ship-did-shoo-navy-patrol-planes-off-kagitingan-reef