The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed that last week's incident at the Rizal Reef it is the first time that a Chinese vessel tried to cross the bow of a Philippine Navy ship.

"There were instances of harassment this particular way, shadowing operation, but this is the first time that they tried to cross the bow of our naval vessel which is (BRP Benguet) LS507 which is a kind of elevation of their activities as far as (Rotation and Reprovision) RoRe mission in Rizal Reef is concerned," AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said in a television interview on Tuesday.

"At first they tried to shadow our vessel to as close as 80 yards so its very close... because it happened for more than three hours the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN 621) of China tried to cross to bow of our LS507 from a distance of 350 yards. So we consider it already as close enough to be considered as a dangerous maneuver on the part of China," he added.

Aguilar expressed belief that the Chinese vessel changed its course after the Philippine Navy personnel warned them of their violation of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea and when they noticed that the incident was being recorded by the Philippines.

"The Chinese vessel changed its course probably after they were warned by our naval personnel that they are violating certain provisions of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (Colreg). Also that this activity, that their action in that particular area is being recorded so that probably changed the decision on the part of the crew of the China vessel," he said.

In a separate interview, Aguilar assured that the Philippine government will file a protest against the recent harassment of Chinese vessel against the Philippine Navy ship.

"This is a violation of a convention and I think all have agreed to Colreg, that was promulgated in 1972 so most probably, I can assure you that there will protest that will be filed against China because of the action of its Navy," he said.

It can be recalled that the Philippine Navy ship BRP Benguet was on its way for a RoRe mission to Rizal Reef when it was harassed by a Chinese PLAN vessel near the area of Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea. Robina Asido/DMS