BRP Teresa-Magbanua
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has already dispatched a ship to replace BRP Teresa Magbanua in Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, but it had to seek shelter due to bad weather, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said.
“The weather is not good right now,” Año said in an ambush interview on Friday, partly in Filipino, while assuring that the PCG has “plans” to replace BRP Teresa Magbanua.
“Actually, our Coast Guard has already sent [a boat], but because of the weather, it needs to [seek] shelter first,” he added.
After more than five months, the BRP Teresa Magbanua left Escoda Shoal and arrived in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on Sunday, with four dehydrated crew members who subsisted on rice porridge and rainwater weeks prior as China Coast Guard thwarted the delivery of supplies.
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“We will always make sure our presence and access to Sabina Shoal will be continuous,” Año said.
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Escoda Shoal serves as the rendezvous point for Filipino vessels carrying out resupply missions to the naval outpost in Ayungin Shoal, where the naval outpost BRP Sierra Madre, which is a main flashpoint of tensions between Manila and Beijing, has been aground since 1999.
Chinese state publication Global Times once claimed that BRP Teresa Magbanua is “semi-grounded” in the shoal, similar to what it said the country did with the BRP Sierra Madre.
Critics fear the pullout of BRP Teresa Magbanua may lead to a repeat of China’s de facto takeover of Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal in 2012, an assertion repudiated by the government.
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