China Coast Guard jamming signal of Philippine vessels in Scarborough: PCG
The China Coast Guard is jamming the automated identification system (AIS) signal of the Philippine vessels in Scarborough Shoal, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said on Tuesday.
In an interview at Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon, Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea confirmed that it is the third time it noticed the signal jamming of Philippine government vessels sailing near the Bajo de Masinloc.
"This is already the third time that we were able to notice that every time our Coast Guard vessel and BFAR vessel close to Bajo de Masinloc at an approximate distance between 15 to 20 nautical miles, we notice that, although we are in close contact with our vessels that we deploy in Bajo de Masinloc, even when their AIS signal is not visible," he said.
"We cannot be able to monitor their IAS movement and whenever we call through radio and other communication capability that they have to confirm if their AIS was 'on', they would say that it's 'on' and unfortunately we’re not able to monitor them," he added.
Tarriela said the two reasons they are looking at why the signal of Philippine vessels were being jammed by China Coast Coast Guard is to prevent the PhilippineS to "effectively monitor the presence of our coast guard vessels and BFAR vessels once they are out at sea particularly at Bajo de Masinloc" and to prevent the Philippines to monitor the AIS of its vessels to "coincide with their (China's ) narrative that they are driving the Philippine Coast Guard or the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources away" from the shoal.
In an interview in Camp Aguinaldo, Navy spokesman for West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said that according to the commander of the Naval Forces West the monitored "cyber interference, electronic interference, jammings, and stuff like, not only for equipments of the ship but also for land-based communication equipment" of the military in the West Philippines Sea have increased and "has been going on for the past three or four years."
"It's on the communications on the ships and communication on land, so there are times that interference or the ability to communicate is affected. It's not a normal shortcoming in our communication but we know that there is a deliberate attempt to prevent them from communicating, ship to ship or on land," he said.
Trinidad did not say where the jamming or signal interference were coming from.
"The interference in the communication, we are not aware where it comes from but the fact is it increased," he said.
However, Trinidad stressed that the signal jamming and interference only have a minimal effect on the military operations in the West Philippine Sea.
"The effect is minimal because the interference on the electronic equipment did not reach a stage that they will interfere with the navigation, these are more on the communications on land, cell phones but on the overall impact on the operation they do not really cause a significant impact," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
