DAVAO CITY June 20 (PIA)- President Benigno Aquino III said that the possibility of government vessels to be deployed back again to the disputed Panatag shoal (Scarborough) will be determined by aircraft flights over the area.
“Pag meron pang (If there are still) vessels which are not ours, we will send them back (ships).” the President said during a press conference held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City yesterday (June 20). The President was in Davao City to attend the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) Convention on Local Governance.
The President said that the vessels were ordered back to port with the threats of stormy weather; he cited the BFAR vessel which is in danger from the coming storms. He said that an aircraft flight was not yet authorized pending the return of good weather.
Prior to their pull-out the Coast Guard ship (BRP Corregidor) and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel (MCS 3008) were deployed for about two months in the shoal in a tense stand-off with other Chinese vessels. The shoal, about 230 kilometers away from the nearest Philippine coast is being claimed by the Peoples Republic of China, whose nearest landmass to the shoal is about 1,200 kilometers away. (PIA/RG Alama)
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