Brawner says Chinese acted like ''pirates'', demand return of firearms and other equipment
By Robina Asido
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr said Chinese acted "like pirates" as he demanded reparation and return of firearms and equipment they looted during the harassment of a rotation and resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal on Monday.
"Our action now is that we are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment, and we are also demanding from them to pay for the damages that they have caused," Brawner said in a press conference in Palawan on Wednesday.
"For me this is piracy already. Piracy because they boarded our boats illegally. They got our equipment, again they were like pirates on their actions there," he added.
Brawner said the Chinese who boarded the Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) of the Philippine Navy was armed with bolos, spears and knives.
"The Chinese were able to board our RHIBs. They surrounded one of our RHIBs before they boarded but of course our troops prevented, tried to prevent them so they took our firearms and equipment. They also destroy our equipment on board including the motor and they damage pierced our RHIB," he said.
"We have videos...we saw in the video how the Chinese even threatened our personnel by pointing their knives at our personnel. Despite this our soldiers fight back with their bare hands, you will see that they were pushing the RHIB of Chinese away, they were preventing the Chinese Coast Guard from hitting them with their bolos, machete and other bladed weapons," he added.
Brawner said it is the first time that the AFP saw the Chinese Coast Guard armed with bladed weapons but he noted that the troops tried to defend using their bare hands.
"This is the first time we saw Chinese Coast Guard bringing bolos, spears and knives. On the other hand our troops doesn't carry firearms and we mentioned that the firearms we mentioned were disassembled and still in the gun case , because we were transporting these to (BRP Sierra Madre) LS57," he said.
Western Command Chief Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres Jr. said seven rifles were forcibly taken by the Chinese.
Torres confirmed that the right thumb of one of the Navy soldiers was cut when the RHIB of the Philippine Navy was rammed by another RHIB from China.
"One of our RHIB was was illegally rammed, high speed rammed by one of the Chinese Coast Guard RHIBs and because of the speed, the forward portion of the Chinese Coast Guard RHIB overlaps (with) our RHIB and unfortunately our soldier was holding there so his thumb was hit and cut," he said.
During his visit in Palawan, Brawner said Seaman 1st Class Jeffrey Facundo" who lost his thumb during the incident was awarded with the wounded personnel medal.
He said the morale of Facundo remained high and he is still willing to go back to the West Philippine Sea for future missions.
"When I asked how he is doing, his morale is high. He is not sad and when I asked him if he still wants to serve, he said he is willing to go back to serve again in the West Philippine Sea so his fighting spirit is still there that is what is important," he said.
"I also had the opportunity to talk to our troops in the Ayungin Shoal in BRP Sierra Madre through video conferencing and our troops in different attachments and littoral stations and I saw that they are happy and their spirits are still high, they have high morale and they continue, they continue to display that determination and the courage that we need in this kind of job," he added.
Despite the rising tension, Brawner assures that the AFP will continue its mission to protect it's territorial rights in the West Philippines Sea.
"We will continue our mission here in our waters, especially in the West Philippine Sea and our Filipino can be assured that your Armed Forces of the Philippines will remain steadfast in that desire to protect our territory and our territorial rights," he said.
"We fight back, that is what's important, we did not allow them to just harass us but we will rise above this all because we still believe in international law and the promotion of a rules based international order. In terms of morale, we will not go down to the level of our aggressor, which is the Chinese Coast Guard and the Chinese militia," he added. DMS
