Separately, Filipino musicians are planning to play a peace concert in the South China Sea.
2025.03.18
Manila
Philippine Navy ready to protect upcoming scientific mission in contested waters
Members of the Philippine Coast Guard approach a Vietnam-flagged fishing vessel in a rubber speed boat in waters around Reed Bank in the South China Sea, Feb. 9, 2023.
Philippine Coast Guard
The Philippine Navy said it was prepared to escort and protect Filipino scientists involved in a biodiversity research project scheduled for next month at two reefs in contested South China Sea waters.
The Philippine environmental department had announced it would be conducting “integrated research on biodiversity conservation” in April at Reed Bank and Commodore Reef. Both reefs, known to Filipinos respectively as Recto Bank and Rizal Reef, lie within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“The role of the Armed Forces is to provide the security blanket in any part of the archipelago to allow other government agencies to be able to perform their mandate,” Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad told a press briefing at the Navy headquarters in Manila on Tuesday.
“If we have to go down to the details of that, like escorting them as what we have done in the past during the different research activities of another government agency, then we are prepared for that,” said Trinidad.
Tensions have been high lately in Philippine EEZ waters of the South China Sea, through encounters between ships and boats from China and the Philippines, which have rival territorial claims.
In January, the Philippines suspended a scientific survey in Sandy Cay, another disputed feature in the maritime region, after ships from the Chinese coast guard and navy allegedly harassed its fisheries vessels.
At Reed Bank, there have been past incidents of confrontations between Philippine ships and vessels from other claimant nations, including China and Vietnam.
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Commodore Reef is one of nine features occupied by Manila in the waterway. Reed Bank is not among them.
Apart from the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, other claimants in the potentially mineral- and gas-rich sea are Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Beijing claims nearly all of the sea as its own based on what it says are its historical rights, but an international arbitration ruling invalidated them in 2016.
The South China Sea, one of the world’s most biodiverse maritime regions, is home to more than 6,500 marine species, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S.-based think-tank. However, increased fishing, dredging, and other activities in recent decades have caused ecological damage in the region, CSIS said.
“The actions of the Armed Forces are for the security, safety and protection of all agencies of the government, [including] civil society,” Trinidad said.
While activities in the region by other countries were “beyond our control,” the Philippine military would do its best to protect Filipinos, he added.
“What we could assure other government agencies and the Filipino public is that your Armed Forces will keep performing its mandate to ensure the integrity of the national territory, to include protecting all features wherein there is the presence of other government agencies,” he said.
“We will make sure that they will be accompanied (by the navy) if needed, when needed.”
Musicians plan peace concert at sea
Trinidad said the Navy was also prepared to assist an upcoming civilian mission in Philippine-claimed waters.
The mission, organized by the Atin Ito (This Is Ours) Coalition, is scheduled in late May and will feature a “concert at sea.”
The mission aims to bring together fisherfolk, artists and nationalist groups to call for peace and against “foreign aggression,” organizers said.
“We are setting sail with a message of peace and solidarity through music,” Rafaela David, one of the trip’s organizers, said Monday. “Through the power of art and collective action, we will fight for what is rightfully ours – not with weapons of war, but with the unyielding force of music and solidarity.”
filipino-fishermen-south-china-sea 2.jpeg
Fishermen from FB Bing Bing, a lead boat of the Atin Ito civilian convoy, pull their net as the sun sets on the South China Sea, May 16, 2024. (Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews)
The mission is the third to be carried out by the group since 2023. The first two missions provided essential aid to fishermen and “awakened a sense of collective responsibility,” said co-convener Edicio Dela Torre.
“This is not just a geopolitical matter – it is about justice, livelihoods and the future of our nation,” he said.
Chinese ships shadowed the group’s previous missions, according to the organizers.
China’s foreign affairs ministry and its embassy in Manila did not immediately release any statement following the group’s announcement of its third mission.
Trinidad said the activity was “very much welcome provided that they get the right coordination with the appropriate government agency.”
“The Philippine Navy, the Armed Forces … [and] other government agencies are always ready to support them in their endeavor and to provide assistance if and when necessary,” he said.
Mark Navales and Jeoffrey Maitem in Manila contributed to this report.