Military to continue patrols and surveillance: AFP
The military will continue patrols and surveillance in the West Philippine Sea despite experiencing harassment from the Chinese Army Air Force in Bajo de Masinloc.
In an interview with dzBB on Sunday, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla said: “Our pilots will continue to take to the skies and show that there is no room for bullying in our airspace and our seas.''
''We remain steadfast in our mission to protect our territory in the face of their flares and intimidation,” Padilla said.
“With this incident, we affirm that we will continue to exercise our rights in that area in accordance with international law, particularly the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and Chicago Convention, which governs the freedom of overflight,” she said.
The Philippine military on Saturday accused a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force of ''dropping flares in the path'' of a Philippine Air Force aircraft conducting '' maritime security operations recently''.
In a statement on Saturday, Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr said two People's Liberation Army Air Force planes ''dropped flares in the path of'' the Air Force's NC-212i plane at 9 am.
Brawner said the pilots and crew of the NIC-212i plane returned to Clark Air Base at 10 am. The personnel were unharmed, said Brawner.
Global Times, a Chinese English language newspaper, said China warned off ''illegally intruding Philippine aircraft in professional, legitimate manner.''
The Philippine Air Force aircraft ''illegally entered the airspace over Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea, interfering with China's regular training activities despite warnings,'' said the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The incident, said Brawner, ''posed a threat to the Philippine Air Force aircraft and its crew, interfered with lawful flight operations in airspace within Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction, contravened international law and regulations governing safety of aviation.''
Brawner said the incident was reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
