PCG ship blocks 3 Chinese vessels from PH waters

A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel, the BRP Cabra, blocked three Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ships from approaching Zambales, maintaining a distance of 85 to 100 nautical miles from the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

PCG spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela identified one of the CCG vessels as 21562, which was involved in a September water cannon incident near Scarborough Shoal.

The PCG denounced the presence of the CCG vessels as an illegal incursion into Philippine sovereign waters, violating the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2016 arbitral ruling.

The PCG has been consistently monitoring Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea, which often ignore radio challenges and attempts to remove them from the Philippines' EEZ.

The PCG maintains its commitment to defending national interests and jurisdiction, vowing not to tolerate any unilateral alteration of the status quo along the Luzon coastline through encroachment.