China damaged P60 million worth of equipment when they harassed the Philippine rotation and resupply (RoRe) mission in Ayungin Shoal on June 17.

In a press conference on Thursday, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said aside from returning the high powered firearms, the military said the P60 million representing the damage it caused to the two Philippine vessels.

"When we estimated the cost of the damage it was 60 million pesos, six zero, six zero million pesos. So we are demanding that China pay 60 million pesos for the damage that they caused during that (incident)," he said.

"We are also looking into the possibility of charging them with the cost of restructuring the hand of SN1 (Jeffrey) Facundo because he needs to undergo an operation to bring back the function of his thumb. There are medical technologies that can help him so that he can again use his thumb," he added.

Brawner said he forwarded his letter to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr demanding China to return their firearms and for them to pay for the damage they caused.

"I already wrote a letter to our Secretary of National Defense, so that my letter could be also transmitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs for them to reach out to their counterparts in China," he said.

"In my letter, I demanded the return of seven firearms, the firearms the Chinese Coast Guard took from our troops. These firearms are inside the box, so they took the firearms and destroyed our equipment," he added.

Brawner hopes that China will "accede" to his demands and be responsible for their illegal acts.

"We are hoping that they will accede to the demands that we are making... because as I said their acts were illegal so they have to take responsibility," he said. Robina Asido/DMS