The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) conducted a total of 28 rotation and resupply (RoRe) missions for the troops stationed in the West Philippines Sea in 2023, a Navy official said on Tuesday.

Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said out of the 28, 14 includes the RoRe for the troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.

"Of these 14, three encountered illegal actions or harassments by the maritime militia or the coast guard, all the others were unimpeded, no illegal actions were conducted. Furthermore we had more reschedulings of missions to Ayungin (shoal) because of the condition of the ships and/or favorable weather conditions," he said.

"The incidents of water cannons last year for 2023, there were three incidents monitored, August resupply mission, November and December so of the 14 missions, RoRe missions to Ayungin (Shoal) three of them encountered illegal actions or harassment through water cannons," he added.

Trinidad explained that harassment includes the use of water cannons and the illegal or dangerous maneuvers against the Philippine vessels and not just the presence of the Chinese vessels in the area.

"The presence of the militia or the coast guard would not directly mean illegal actions or harassment, presence is different from the illegal actions conducted, cutting across the bow, water cannon or other activities, not according to international...," he said.

"Illegal actions would be actions by ships that are not in accordance with UNCLOS, with (Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) Colregs with (Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea) Cues, these are actions that would endanger the ship and or the crew, these would include dangerous maneuvers, cutting across the bow, blocking, water cannon, laser pointing,"he added.

Although the AFP did not officially admitted that an airdrop operation was made for the troops in Ayungin Shoal last month, China through it's Coast Guard claim that it had allowed the Philippines to deliver supplies to its troops in BRP Sierra Madre through a "temporary special arrangement" which was denied by the National Security Council. Robina Asido/DMS