GRABI NAKAKA GULAT ITO, FAKE NEWS ANG CHINA! HINDI TOTOONG TINULUNGAN ANG MANGINGISDA

While we acknowledge and appreciate the humanitarian gesture of the People's Liberation Army Navy Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer with bow number 174 in providing a bottle of water and three packs of biscuits to distressed Filipino fisherman off the coast of Zambales—a notable contrast to the barbaric, illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions often employed by the China Coast Guard against Filipino fishermen—several critical points must be emphasized: First, the Philippine Coast Guard received no prior information from the PLAN regarding the location or condition of the fisherman who reportedly received this assistance. Second, the fisherman was safely moored to a Floating Aggregate Device (FAD) or “payao” and awaiting pickup by their mother boat. Claim that he had been adrift for three days is inaccurate. The service boat departed on a fishing trip on December 24 around 3:00 p.m., and the fisherman was located by the PCG and the mother boat the following afternoon—less than 24 hours later. Third, the PLAN destroyer had no legitimate reason to operate within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The reported location of this alleged humanitarian act—at coordinates 14°33.470'N, 118°52.120'E (approximately 71 nautical miles west of Silanguin Island, Zambales)—falls well within Philippine’ EEZ. Finally, we hope this incident is not exploited as propaganda by China. Instead, it should serve as recognition that Filipino fishermen have full rights to fish in the waters around Bajo de Masinloc. We hope that the PLAN, unlike the China Coast Guard, ceases endorsing the Chinese Communist Party's unfounded claims to the entire South China Sea based on its invalid "ten-dash line." #planavy #chinesecoastguard #bajodemasinloc