The Armed Forces Western Command (Wescom) and Kalayaan municipality of Palawan have confirmed reports that a Chinese coast guard crew forcibly took a piece of a rocket debris from the Philippine Navy personnel Sunday near the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in West Philippine Sea.

But Wescom and the acting mayor of Kalayaan were mum on a series of loud explosions heard by residents of Pag-asa after that sea altercation Sunday morning. They neither confirmed nor denied the report by republicasia, which quoted Pag-asa residents and an incident report by the PNP Kalayaan that the series blasts apparently came from Subi (Zamora) Reef where China has a military base.

Satellite photo of Subi Reef, taken by CSIS/AMTI in 2016

Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, commander of the Wescom, said they forwarded an incident report to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea for “appropriate action.”

NTFWPS chief, Clarita Carlos, has ordered an investigation on the incident.

Around 6:45 am Sunday, personnel from the Naval Station Emilio Liwanag (NSEL) based in Pag-asa Island noticed an “unidentified floating object” through a long-range camera drifting around 800 yards off Pag-asa Island.

A Filipino team aboard a rubber boat was immediately dispatched to the area since the object was found drifting towards the island’s Cay 1 sandbar due to strong waves, Carlos said.

The team retrieved the floating object and tied it to their boat.

While en route to their station, a Chinese Coast Guard boat quickly came and blocked their path, he said.

“As the NSEL team was towing the floating object, they noticed that the Chinese Coast vessel with bow number 5203 was approaching their location and subsequently blocked their pre-plotted course twice,” Carlos said.

The Chinese vessel then deployed a rigid hull inflatable boat  which “forcefully retrieved the floating object by cutting the towing line attached to the NSEL rubber boat,” Carlos added.

The Chinese towed the object to their vessel while the Filipinos returned to their station unscathed after the “tug-of-war.”

The Kalayaan Municipality also reported the same storyline of Wescom in its Facebook post.

“Sa insidenteng ito, pinulong at pinayuhan naman ni Acting Mayor Beltzasar Alindogan ang mga residente ng maging mapagmatyag at handa sa mga ganitong pangyayari,” the LGU reported.

“Sa kasalukuyan, ‘business as usual’ na muli ang sitwasyon sa Barangay Pag-asa, Kalayaan,” it added.

While the Filipino and Chinese troops did not figure in a shooting altercation during the stand-off which lasted for two hours, they did figure in a verbal tussle, according to Wescom spokesperson Maj. Cheryl Tindog.

“We exercise maximum tolerance (in such situations). Since it’s an unidentified object and it’s not a matter of life and death, the (NSEL) team decided to go back to NSEL,” Tindog said in an interview.

She said the object is similar to a rocket debris that Palawan fishermen recovered off Busuanga Island in Palawan on November 7. The debris was later turned over to the Navy.

Another debris was also found by fishermen off Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro a day earlier and which was turned over to the Philippine Coast Guard.

Earlier reports said the rocket debris found in Palawan and Occidental Mindoro provinces were likely part of the Long March 5B rocket that China launched on October 31. The rocket, which crashed in an unknown location, was carrying the Mengtian laboratory module for the Tiangong space station, a research facility being built by China in outer space.

Pag-asa Island is among the nine areas controlled by the Filipino military in the West Philippine Sea. It also lies about 280 nautical miles northwest of Palawan province where US Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit on Tuesday.

The PCG said Harris will board BRP Terese Magbanua, a multi-purpose vessel docked in the province capital, Puerto Princesa City. She will be given a “briefing” about the current maritime operations in the West Philippine Sea after a short tour of the coast guard vessel. 

The Chinese has constantly been involved in similar incidents with Filipino counterparts after they have seized control of previously Philippine owned islets near the disputed waters of South China Sea.

But the Philippine government viewed these as forms of harassment, prompting it to file a string of diplomatic protests against China.

Asked if the latest incident is a form of harassment, Tindog said it is up to the NTF for the West Philippine Sea led by National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos to make such an assessment.

Republicasia sources said the latest incident also led to a series of explosions, which was heard by residents living in Pag-asa island, and which lasted for several hours starting from 10 am until 3 pm, also on Sunday.

Local police reports said the explosions could have been artillery shots fired from Subi Reef, a water outcrop which lies 26 kilometers off Pag-asa Island and was previously owned by the Philippine government but has since been seized by the Chinese military.

The Philippine military, however, has yet to confirm if the Chinese has indeed fired those shots, which rattled the residents living in Pag-asa Islands.

Banner file photo of Pag-asa Island courtesy Philippine Coast Guard